


Artistic Experimentation

by wrappedupinabook



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: AU, College AU, Cute, F/F, Happy, Happy Ending AU, Light to Moderate Angst, Not Canon Compliant, Romance, everyone lives au, friends become Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-26 08:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6230902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrappedupinabook/pseuds/wrappedupinabook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>College AU: Max never attended Blackwell and never reconnected with Chloe</p><p>When Max decides to take a life drawing class, she never expected to recognize her model. Or for her model to look quite so good with her clothes off...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New friends / Old friends

Max wished she hadn't put the flyer up on her wall. Anywhere she sat in her dorm room, at her desk, on her ancient couch, even when she was in bed she could feel it watching her. Judging her. Taunting her. Even when she span around in her desk chair the print seemed to be burning a hole in the back of her head. 

Life drawing class, tomorrow afternoon, free for college kids. 

Max had come to college to try new things, to push her artistic boundaries. To try to break pout of the shell she had spent most of high school safely curled up in. She knew she was going to be a photographer, but learning different skills would help her grow and develop her talent. Getting some experience working with a model, capturing form, would be invaluable. The drawing part of the class wasn't what was worrying her. It was what, or rather who, they would be drawing. That, and what they, you know, wouldn't be drawing. 

Frustrated, she broke eye contact with the badly photo copied flyer. She wouldn't be stared down by a piece of paper. If she was going to make a decision because of peer pressure she wanted to be pressured by her actual peers. It was a little embarrassing to admit, but in the four weeks she had been in college she had only really made one friend, and even then Max wasn't quite sure that the term 'friend' applied. 

Victoria was in her photography class, and sat next to her, and insulted her in a way that Max thought translated into affection. If she was completely honest, she didn't have enough experience of hanging out with other girls to really be able to tell. Having one friend who might actually hate her seemed better than being completely alone. Besides, they were facebook friends, and that had to count for something. 

Max booted up her laptop and sent Victoria a message, half hoping she was out partying as she seemed to be every night. No such luck though. 

**Max Caulfield**  
hi

 **Victoria Chase**  
hey u have like three minutes of my attention before i'm going to this dorm party so go fast

Ooh or u could come withh

the guy hosting it has the weirdest room mate and u can totally distract him for me

 **Max Caulfied**  
umm no that's okay. 

Thanks for the invite though. 

**Victoria Chase changed Max Caulfied's nickname to Boring**

**Boring**  
umm okay.

I was actually wondering if you're planning to go to that life modelling class tomorrow? 

**Victoria Chase**  
yess we absolutely should

it will be good for you to actually see boobs for once in ur life

 **Boring**  
umm I meant for the experience and stuff

I hadn't really thought about the model

 **Victoria Chase**  
no it'll be amazing I totally know her

 **Boring**  
?

 **Victoria Chase**  
the girl whos modelling is a girl who went to my high school and then dropped outgrown

emphasis on the high if you know what I mean

but she moved here and I saw her putting up the posters and stuff

 **Boring**  
Maybe I won't go along then. I don't want things to be weird or anything. 

**Victoria Chase**  
no backing out now! I have to go literally now but if u arent at that class tmrw I will die of pissed offness and then come back as a ghost and haunt ur ass

ok gtg ily xxx

 

…

 

So that's why Max was here, setting up her easel and trying to ignore the fact that her heart felt like it was trying to break out of her chest and take as many ribs as it could along for the ride. Max was here to avoid losing her only sort of friend, and to become a better artist, and had no ulterior motives whatsoever. 

Victoria, sat on her left, couldn't stop glancing over and rolling her eyes at Max's obvious nerves. One of her perfectly manicured hands drummed an impatient rhythm on the edge of of her sketch book for a few seconds before leaning over. 'You don't have to be nervous you know. She doesn't bite,' she paused for a moment to pluck an imaginary piece of lint from her cardigan before continuing, 'at least, not on the first date.' 

'Hilarious,' Max replied, trying to bring the blush in her cheeks back under control. 

'I know, I surprise even myself sometimes,' Victoria shot back with a smug smile. Max would have been able to work out something halfway witty to shoot back if the collective embarrassment of the entire situation didn't have her head spinning. 

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, a moment later the professor came in, followed by a girl in a bathrobe. Max looked just long enough to take in the shock of blue hair before hiding behind her sketch pad and working hard on controlling her breathing. It was fine. She was doing it for art. There was no reason to be uncomfortable. 

She risked peeking above her easel and saw the model step up onto the little stage at the front of class, her back to assembled students. She rolled her shoulders a few times and stretched, then in one fluid motion slipped off the robe, turning around as she passed it to the professor. Max probably would have spent longer appreciating the stretch of smooth skin this movement exposed if she hadn't made eye contact with the model and, after a moments confusion recognised her. 

'Chloe?' 

'Max?' the two girls spoke almost in unison. There are a lot of strange ways you can reconnect with your child hood best friend, but this, Max thought, Chloe standing completely naked in front of her, was probably the weirdest.


	2. The Aloha Diner Experience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old friends reconnect in the strangest of ways.

A stern cough from the professor was enough to snap them out of it. Chloe stuck her tongue out at Max, then lay back on the couch at the front of the class. Max couldn't help but think of a cat, back arched, stretching in the sun, her muscles taut and ready to leap. It was easier to think of her as a cat. Or as a log. Or as some random inanimate object that she just had to focus on for an hour and then never, ever think about again. 

Ever. 

Okay, okay, pencil to page. Focus. Max began to make loose, sweeping marks that spanned the page, outlining the girl in front of her in shadow and texture. A curve for her hip, another for her back, four strokes for her crooked knee. 

Max was surprised by the tattoos that wrapped their way up Chloe's arm and circled the top of her thighs, abstract floral patterns and skulls in bold reds, greens and blues. They made the other girl look older than her eighteen years, and harder too, though maybe that's because Max was still trying to reconcile the girl stretched out naked in front of her with the thirteen year old she had been remembering all these years. 

Gradually, the drawing began to take shape, so Max was slightly disappointed that she didn't seem to be able to capture whatever it was about Chloe that was still tying her stomach into knots. Something about the shape of her, maybe, the confidence she seemed to have despite being exposed. Whatever Max was feeling didn't seem to be something she could pin down on paper. 

The other problem she was having was with her face, she couldn't bring herself to look at Chloe closely enough to draw it in. Every time she glanced at the strong line of her jaw, or her eyes, partially obscured by that newly blue hair, she couldn't help but remember the last time she had seen them. So much had changed since then, but one look was enough to leave her feeling 13 all over again. 

…

Sooner than she thought possible, the hour was up. Victoria glanced critically at Max's sketch, the face still a barely outlined blank slate, 'I guess you prioritised.'

'Shut up,' Max muttered, but she'd already lost Victoria's attention. To Max's horror, she was waving at the front of the class to catch the attention of a re-bathrobed Chloe. 'Victoria, what are you doing?'

'Saying hi, of course. I may be many things Maxine, but I am never rude.'

'You called me a binch earlier today. I don't even know what a binch is.'

'Okay hush, she's coming over, I'll introduce you.'

'Umm, actually,' but Max didn't have a chance to finish her sentence as Chloe closed the last few feet between them and wrapped Max in a tight hug. Max was caught completely off guard, inhaling the smell of coffee and sweat mixed with something sweeter and familiar, the smell of Chloe. The hug lasted less than a second before Chloe broke away and held her at arms length, looking her up and down. 

'Not too bad super-Max. Good to see you didn't waste too much time growing after you moved away?' In a second it felt like she'd never been gone, it was amazing how everything she thought she'd forgotten came rushing back, like Chloe had unlocked a door at the back of her brain and started picking through all her old stuff. 

'Shut up, you're barely taller than me.'

'Au contraire, besides every inch counts when you have as few as you.'

'At least I haven't dyed any of my inches blue.'

'Ex-squeeze me? Is this not a look? Isn't this what all you art-school chicks are secretly going for?' 

Victoria seemed confused by a conversation that wasn't about her lasting this long, and interjected. 'So I take it you two know each other?' 

Chloe turned around as if she was noticing her for the first time, 'Oh my God, you're here too? You went to Blackwell with me too right?' She snapped her fingers as she tried to remember, 'I want to say it began with a V, right? Vicky?'

'I have honestly never been this offended in my life,' Victoria responded. 'When did you meet? At some sort of support group for the awkwardly alternative?'

'Max-imo here used to live in Arcadia Bay, way back when,' Chloe replied, casually reaching over and grabbing Max's hand. Till she totally abandoned me to move to Seattle that is.'

'Me and Chloe were best friends the whole time we were growing up,' Max added, giving Chloe's hand a squeeze, 'our mom's were friends and…'

'That's completely adorable, or whatever,' Victoria responded, pulling out an iphone that Max was fairly sure hadn't actually been released yet, 'but I'm going to have to leave you to reminisce because apparently Ariana Grande is at a club down town and everyone's trying to stick gum in her hair, and I absolutely cannot miss that. Ciao.' Without even looking up from her phone she kissed Max on the cheek and swept out the room. 

'Wow,' said Chloe, after a brief pause. 'That was… a thing that happened.'

'Yeah, she's kind of an acquired taste.' 

'Anyway, I'm freezing my tits off here. Let me just get changed and then we go grab some food. Or drinks, or whatever. As long as food is an element, cause I am starving.' Chloe turned back to the front of the room and scooped the little mug of tips off the front of the stage, glancing inside as she did so. 'Ugh, a bunch of you guys stiffed me. Boo. Oh well, I guess you're paying tonight then.'

'Umm… okay?'

'Great, let me just slip into something a little less comfortable.'

…

The diner was absolutely ridiculous. At some point it had been a Hawaiian themed restaurant, though who thought San Francisco needed one of those max didn't know, and you could still see the faded outline of where the sign had been out front. Apparently, when it had changed management and become a retro 50s style place they hadn't bothered to change the decorations. The walls were painted with sunsets and rolling waves, and a little plastic hula girl danced in the window arthritically. The two girls sat down between droopy plastic palm trees, and Chloe immediately sprawled across an entire bench of the booth. 

'You know, I usually make someone buy me dinner before they see me naked,' Chloe said. 

'I was so embarrassed, honestly I swear I wouldn't have gone if I had known it was going to be you up there.'

'Really? Am I that repulsive?' Max tried to form a reply but was interrupted by Chloe blowing the paper case of a straw into her face. 

'Glad to see that hasn't changed.' Max responded drily, managing to bat away the second attack when it came. 'Do you remember how mad Joyce used to get when we wrecked Two Whales? We used to have those sword fights with brooms and you'd use up a whole bottle of ketchup for blood?'

'Oh man yeah, she'd make us clean the whole place afterwards. Memories.' 

'So how is Joyce anyway?'

'I should have known you'd ask, I'm like 99% sure we were only friends so you two could hang out.'

Max pulled a napkin from the dispenser and scrunched it up, tossing it at Chloe's head. Chloe ducked out of the way and it soared out of the booth and knocked the hula girl flat on her face, her motor whirring in frustration. Max and Chloe both ducked back into the booth covered their mouths, trying to muffle the sounds of laughter so as not to draw too much attention. 

'She's fine,' Chloe continued, after she'd gotten over the laughing fit, 'she can definitely throw better than you. She has a boyfriend too, this guy David.'

'Oh, that's cool. Good for Joyce.'

'I guess. He's an absolute dick-weed though. That's one of the reasons I moved down here.'

'One of?' Max asked.

The smile dropped off Chloe's face like an icicle melting in a sunrise. When she spoke, her voice sounded like it was coming from a mile away, and she wouldn't meet Max's eye. 'Something pretty bad, um, happened to a friend of mine. So I needed to get away, for a while at least.' There were a few moments of awkward silence between them, and Max could feel regret sloshing through her stomach as she desperately tried to think of something to say that wouldn't make things worse. 

Luckily, the waitress chose that exact moment to come over with menus and a forced smile that now seemed wildly inappropriate. Faced with the prospect of food, Chloe seemed to come back to herself a bit more, and even managed a shadow of her usual sarcastic grin. 

'Good evening madam, my delightful companion and I would like to request a stack of your finest pancakes and a pitcher of your most $4 beer.' Chloe said, in an accent that was possibly supposed to British but sounded mostly confused, with perhaps an element of sleepy.

'Either of you kids 21?' The waitress asked, her smile growing more forced by the minute. Max managed a smile while Chloe took an incredibly fake sounding shocked intake of breath.

'Do you question my honour madam? For shame!' 

The waitress looked at her for a second, then slid her eyes over to Max. 'I literally do not care,' she said, and popped her gum as she turned and walked back towards the kitchen. 

'So, enough about my mother, how's that exciting art school life treating you?' Chloe asked.

'Umm, it's good. I like my classes, and I really feel like I'm developing new skills. Plus, some of the equipment they have is fantastic, I've been doing some analogue double exposure stuff that's really cool.'

'Okay, so you can get your geek on, but are you talking to people? Partying? Have you replaced me as your best friend yet?'

'I'd never replace you.'

'Damn right. What about Victoria then, how long have you two been together?'

It took Max a couple of seconds to understand, and then she couldn't help but laugh out loud. 'Victoria? Absolutely not. So not my type. Plus, she's about a million times too hot for me.'

'Don't sell yourself short there kiddo.' Chloe replied, flicking her hair out of her eyes. 'Besides, she was far from the hottie of Blackwell.'

'Oh yeah? Who held that honour?'

'Me, duh.' Max tried to look incredulous, but Chloe wasn't buying it. 'Don't pretend you haven't seen my goods girl, I saw you staring.' 

'Anyway,' Max interrupted quickly, 'how did you get into life modelling anyway? Seems a little refined for you.'

'Okay, one – rude.' Chloe shot back, 'and two – I am just ridiculously broke, and not even in the fun way any more. I stole some money from this guy Frank to get out here, but that ran out pretty fast and I've had a hard time finding a job that didn't make me want to jump off a bridge. I saw a poster in town and thought hey, it'll be better than working at a fast food joint.'

'You worked at a fast food joint?'

'For three and a half hours, before they fired me for drawing dicks on the burgers in ketchup. God, some priests have no sense of humour.'

It was amazing how quickly all the years melted away. Talking about nothing with Chloe, watching her try and fit an entire pancake in her mouth, feeling drowsy and light headed from the beer, it was easy to feel like a kid again. Well, maybe not the beer part. Eventually they had to go their separate ways, Max had class in the morning and Chloe was going to go out on the job hunt again, but as they swapped phone numbers and hugs Max was determined that she was going to see Chloe again. Soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something a bit more substantial this time. I'm really liking this AU actually, I'm excited to see where this goes. As ever, kudos is appreciated, comments are adored and I take fic requests on my tumblr wrappedupinabook.tumblr.com


	3. Baby Goats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.

**Victoria Chase**  
so, how was the date? 

did you spend the whole time trying not to picture her naked?

 **Boring**  
no. 

but I am now

thanks. 

and it was definitely not a date.

 **Victoria Chase**  
boooo

 **Boring**  
we're friends.

 **Victoria Chase**  
booooooo

 **Boring**  
>:(

 **Victoria Chase**  
oooh, actual emojis. Retro. 

Anyway I know it wasnt a date 

chloes totally str8, yawn

 **Boring**  
wait, really?

How do you know?

 **Victoria Chase**  
try not to sound too eager there

I asked her out and one time and she said no

therefore she must be one hundred percent hetero

 **Boring**  
lol

wait you're not serious are you?

 **Victoria Chase**  
deadly

 **Boring**  
you're the biggest narcisist I have ever met 

*narcissist

 **Victoria Chase**  
thank you darling

 **Boring**  
not a compliment 

**Victoria Chase changed her nickname to Narcissist**

**Narcissist**  
u just wish u had my confidence

 **Boring**  
i'm plenty confident

 **Narcissist**  
if ur so confident why havent u asked chloe out instead of trrying to sneak information out of me?

 **Boring**  
because I don't want to go out with her!!

i'm just curious

 **Narcissist**  
suuuuuuuure honey

ok gtg the couple I hooked up with last night r gonna wake up soon and I dont want to talk to them

…

Max was supposed to be reading a TS Eliot essay on the nature of individual talent for class. It was, according to one of her professors, formative for multiple schools of art criticism and the perception of cultural value in the world today. She was really trying to get on with it too, she had the document open and everything. Any second now she was going to get round to it. Right now though? Right now she was facebook stalking Chloe.

Max couldn't believe that in the six years they'd been apart she had never thought to look the other girl up online, to check in and see what direction her life had gone in. It wasn't like she hadn't thought of her, often. The timing had just never been right. When she had first moved away everything had felt so fresh, she had felt like a traitor, like she was abandoning Chloe right when she needed her most. Before she knew it though, it had been too long, too long to try and re-establish casual contact, and so the pressure began to build to make her first message perfect, to offer up some explanation for the radio silence. 

In the end though, no perfect answer had come. A few weeks had turned into a few months had turned into a guilty expectation that she would never get to see her best friend again. Max just wished there was some way for her to turn back time. Well, it didn't matter now, Max had been given a second chance and she was determined not to screw it up this time. Hence, the facebook stalking. 

Max was determined that her first message could be perfect, this time. She'd send Chloe something light hearted but thoughtful, start up a conversation completely organically and firmly cement her and Chloe's friends-again status. What she wasn't going to do was spend an hour stressing over what to write and checking all of Chloe's statuses from the last six years for clues. Correction, she wasn't going to spend another hour doing that.  
Scrolling back through Chloe's posts was surreal, watching the adult, (well, sort of adult), she had had dinner with last night transform back into the teenager she had played pirates with. The tattoos, she learned, were relatively new, the blue hair was a little older. Chloe liked long lists of bands that Max had never heard of and 80s kung-fu movies she had never seen, though Max was pleased to see Blade Runner was still listed as one of her favourites. She had endless albums of photos of her at gigs, her grin wild and her eyes luminous in the low light, arms and legs at crazy right angles as she danced. 

There were lots of photos of her with a girl too, Max guessed she might be the friend Chloe had mentioned at the diner, the one something bad had happened to. Max tried her best not to feel jealous of her, whoever she was, regardless of how pretty she was, and how much time she got to spend with Chloe. Max had abandoned Chloe, no the other way round, and anyway, it didn't seem fair to be jealous of a girl she had never met with some tragic story. Still, seeing the way Chloe smiled at her wasn't making the task of sending that first message any easier. 

As if she had been reading her thoughts, Chloe chose that exact moment to make the first move. 

**Chloe Price**  
yoyoyoyoyo

r u online in class? Max u rebel I am ashamed

 **Max Caulfield**  
Nope :D Class doesn't start for another hour, what's your excuse? 

**Chloe Price**  
ewww emoji get it awaaaaay

get u, the glamorous life of an artist, not to shabby

 **Max Caulfield**  
and hows the glamorous life an artists model?

(you'll never take my emoji :DDDD)

 **Chloe Price**  
I am srrsly reconsidering this friendship r now

n bad tho there was some guy in the room above me building ikea furniture at like 5am so FUNFUNFUN

UGH I haaate this place so much

nywy wuu2?

 **Max Caulfield**  
???

 **Chloe Price**  
What you up to? (grandma)

 **Max Caulfied**  
not much

you're the elderly one here miss almost-twenty

 **Chloe Price**  
gah don't remind me

growing up sux 

live fast die young

 **Max Caulfield**  
I'm more live slow tbh

 **Chloe Price**  
yawn

ugh 

I am mnt to be hauling my ass arnd town trying to make that $$$ but im all curled in bed watching baby goat vids on youtube

 **Max Caulfield**  
Baby goats? That doesn't seem very punk rock

 **Chloe Price**  
how DARE U. baby goats r the most punk rock end of. 

**Chloe Price posted a link**

tell me this shit isn't hella adorable

 **Max Caulfield**  
I guess it's pretty cute :)

 **Chloe Price**  
see emojis

they just make u sound sarcasticc

 **Max Caulfield**  
maybe that's what I was going for? 

**Chloe Price**  
then u dont deserve my wonderful goats I will go find somone who appreciates me and my children

 **Max Caulfield**  
noooooo

 **Chloe Price**  
ha knew u couldn't live witht me

at least  
not again

(jk)

ok I gotta go get some ramen and dance arnd to rly loud music to get rvnge on the guy upstairs ttyl xxx

…

_is that her?_

The note was in Victoria's distinctively elegant handwriting, and Max couldn't help but admire her ability to appear to be paying full attention to the discussion they were having on aesthetic value while still, apparently, reading Max's messages. 

'Yeah, why?' she whispered in response, and before she knew what was happening Victoria had confiscated her phone and was scrolling back through Max's messages, sucking air in through her teeth as she did so. After perhaps a minute of this she returned Max's phone and started writing furiously, then passed the note to Max

_okay analysis_

'What?' Max asked, the confusion clear in her face.

'I live for drama and you two are, unfortunately, my best source right now. Read the damn note.'

Still more than a little confused, Max returned her eyes to the page. 

_she clearly wants to be friends again, and you're obviously thirsty. I'm maybe rethinking my straight hypothesis, I suppose if she's into you she must have unusual taste anyway. The main problem is she's clearly afraid of you abandoning her again_

'How are you getting all this from one text conversation?' Instead of responding, Victoria tapped the note, indicating that Max should keep reading. 

_she's avoiding talking about anything real, I mean baby goats? Come on. Add on to that the spectacularly insecure jokes about you living without her, and the whole emoji thing. She's been lied to before, and sees emojis as a way of people hiding their real feelings like a mask_

'People don't use emojis to lie, Victoria.'

'Really?' Victoria pulled out her phone, and a moment later Max's buzzed in response. 

**Narcissist**  
that top looks soooo cute on u :)

'Okay, rude, but maybe you have a point.'

'Trust me okay. This girl likes you, at least as a friend, but she's as a needy as that kitten I tried to keep in my dorm room.'

'So what should I do?'

'Are you seriously asking me for advice on building healthy relationships? That's hilarious.' At a cold glance from the professor she dropped her voice to a whisper. 'Look, you two were bffs, and now you're barely acquaintances, you can't act like nothings changed and just talk about surface stuff. Get to know this girl, work out if you're the same people you were when you were teenagers, and if you like the people you've become. Oh, and if you decide to sleep with her please come over to mine and borrow some underwear because I am ninety-nine percent sure you're wearing a sports bra right now and that is wholly unacceptable.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super early update I know but I'm trying to keep to a daily schedule (for once in my life). As ever, commenters receive my undying love and first born child, and I'm taking prompts/comments/suggestions over at wrappedupinabook.tumblr.com


	4. Noodling and Canoodling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chance to see your completely platonic best friend naked.

…

 

Max was lying in bed, on top of her covers, trying to make sense of a book about Richard Avedon. In the corner of her dorm room ceiling, a spider was spinning its web, and she kept feeling her eyes being pulled up from the page to watch it make its way from wall to wall, weaving its home. 

Eventually, the spider stilled, and, realising she was finding an arachnid more interesting than her studying, Max rolled over and grabbed her phone. One unread message, from Chloe, and one she had been dreading all week. 

 

 **Chloe Price**  
so r u coming tonite?

 **Max Caulfield**  
coming where?

 **Chloe Price**  
to life drawing duh

 **Max Caulfield**  
I hadn't really thought about it

 

That was a lie. 

Max had been thinking about almost nothing else all week, weighing up the pros and cons of showing up in that classroom and getting to see Chloe again. She didn't want to make the other girl uncomfortable, didn't want to do anything to risk the new growth of their friendship. Not that there was any reason Chloe should feel uncomfortable. Or that Max should feel uncomfortable. No reason that Max could think of, at least. 

**Chloe Price**  
noo come along

save me from victoria

help me obi wan maxnobi your my only hope

 **Max Caulfield**  
how can I resist my princess leia?

 **Chloe Price**  
take it back I am not the leia here

ur leia i'm han solo 

**Max Caulfield**  
if you want :)

 **Chloe Price**  
NO EMOJI!!

see u there 

without emoji

or else

 

…

 

Max dragged out the journey from her dorm room to class as long as possible, going over possible conversations in her mind, trying to plan for every eventuality. By the time she reached the room, tucked away on the top floor between broom closets, Chloe was already there, standing by the little stage in her bath robe. She caught Max's eye as soon she walked in, shooting her finger guns from across the room. 

'Knew ya wouldn't let me down', she said, pulling Max into a hug. 

'Hey, I'm just here for my art, okay?' Max replied, 'nothing to do with you.'

'That's fair, I of course, am here for Victoria's company.'

'Did I hear my name being mentioned?' Max almost jumped out of her skin as Victoria appeared silently behind her. 

'Jesus!' she exclaimed, 'do you always appear when summoned?'

'Naturally, now why were you two discussing me? Aside from the obvious fact that I am the most interesting thing in either of your lives.'

'Is she still like this?' Chloe asked Max, half annoyed.

'You learn to tune it out.'

'Excellent, you're already here!' The Professor interrupted them, hurrying into the room with a mug of coffee in one hand and a stack of papers tucked under the other arm. 'We can get going right away. Everyone find a seat!'

Max and Victoria settled into their front row spots and Chloe started limbering up again, rolling her shoulders and shifting her weight from foot to foot. 

'Today,' the Professor continued, 'I'd like you to see you focusing on texture and shade, so I'd like to draw one small section of the model. Look for a part of her body that draws your eye, then try and capture it in as much detail as possible. Try and create a real sense of depth on the page.' Then, turning to Chloe, 'if you're ready?'

Chloe slipped off her robe and sat back on the couch, pulling her legs up in front of her and crossing them. Max let her eyes drift over the other girls body, trying to see her objectively, trying to look for something that caught her eye. 

It was easier and harder than last time. On the one hand, Max's entire world hadn't been shaken to its foundations, which helped, but now whenever she made eye contact with Chloe she felt her stomach turn over, which definitely didn't. Max kept wanting to draw Chloe's face, it seemed the most obvious focal point, but that was part of the problem. It seemed too obvious, too expected and, still, too intimate for this girl who was still almost a stranger to her. 

Max's eye was drawn to Chloe's left arm, curled and resting in her lap, and she picked up her charcoal and began to sketch. She could just see the soft curve of her inner arm, shielded by her angular elbow, just make out the muscles of her upper arm. She fell into the drawing, into Chloe, into the way the last rays of the sun washed against her pale skin, turning it a soft gold. Into the way, without the tattoos of its partner, it seemed so much gentler, more like her own. As she carefully committed the veins you could see peeking out from beneath the surface to her paper, she found herself longing to cross the short space between them, to reach out and touch what she was staring at with such intensity. She couldn't help but imagine what Chloe's arm would feel like under her fingertips, the warmth of her skin, the firmness of her muscles pulling against each other. 

…

The hour flew by, faster than Max could have believed possible, and before she knew it the Professor was calling time. She packed away her things as quickly as she could, while still trying to appear nonchalant, then walked up to Chloe just as she pulled on her robe. 

'Hey,' Max said, 'you did a good job up there.'

'I am the master of stillness,' Chloe replied, then started doing karate motions with her hands, 'I am one with the couch, master of the bed.'

Max gave a tiny bow, 'please, teach me your ways oh wise sensei.'

'Well the first trick is to think about anything other than how itchy your nose is, and the rest just flows from there.'

'I would never have guessed that.'

'Who said an education in art is wasted? Okay, let me go put my clothes back on and we can grab some food, yeah?' Max must have looked shocked because a dark cloud of worry suddenly crossed Chloe's usually open face. 'That is, if you still want to go?'

'Yes!' Max responded, immediately, then realising that that might have been a bit too enthusiastic, 'I'm super hungry, so yeah, that sounds awesome.'

'Sweet,' Chloe responded, then slipped away. 

Max tried to slow her breathing, again, she couldn't understand why talking to Chloe felt so natural and yet left her so flustered. 'Good luck,' Victoria called out to her as she left the room, waving over her shoulder, not even bothering to turn around, and Max was alone in the rapidly emptying room. Within a few seconds Chloe was back though, pulling a beanie on and bouncing up and down on sneakers that were more hole than fabric. 

'Cool,' she said, 'so, where do you want to go super Max the super hungry?'

'Umm, I don't know. Wherever's cool with you.'

…

The only indication that it served food was a handwritten sign stuck to the front window that said 'noodles' in scratchy handwritten sharpie and the most amazing smell Max had ever encountered leaking out into the street. All the windows were opaque with steam, so she was surprised at how tiny the place was once they got inside, eight mismatched chairs grouped around two tables and a counter completely filled the narrow, low ceiling space. 

Chloe went straight up to the counter and knocked a rhythm with her fists. After a moment passed with no response she yelled, 'Alex! You have customers for once! Get out here!' After another pause a tall guy pushed his way through a swing door that must have led to the kitchen and stood behind the counter, drumming his fingers on the counter. 

'You're banned.' He said shortly, his eyes angrily peaking through a long fringe of straight black hair.

'It's so great to see you too Alex, now what are today's specials?'

'Chloe seriously, you're cool and whatever but you can't just dine and dash and expect zero consequences. I'm not serving you more food I know you can't pay for.'

'How quickly you jump to assumptions. Not only do I now have actual sort of employment, but tonight I am joined by my sugar momma Max.' Chloe reached across and took Max's hand, easily locking fingers with her. 'Max, this is Alex, he plays bass in the Shinsplints and makes hella good noodles. Alex, this is Max, an older billionaire who uses me to rekindle a sense of her lost youth.'

Alex looked way too tired to deal with any more of Chloe, he turned to Max imploringly 'will you pay for your damn noodles?' 

'Umm, yeah. I promise.'

'Okay, great. Fine.' He turned back to the kitchen, then stopped and turned back, 'but Chloe, you're roadying for us next week, okay?' Chloe gave him a double thumbs up until he went back into the kitchen and then collapsed into one of the worryingly rickety chairs. 

'That boy,' she said affectionately, gesturing for Max to sit down, which she did, rather more carefully. 'So, can I see myself?'

'What?'

'Can I see what you drew, duh.'

'Oh, umm, sure.' Max pulled out her sketchbook and flipped through the pages till she came to the drawing she had done earlier. Looking at it again, she was filled with a flush of pride, and she turned it around to show it to Chloe. Chloe grabbed the sketchbook with both hands and stared critically at the page for a few seconds before snorting with laughter.

'What?' Max asked, a little hurt.

'I'm mostly just curious how many people, when faced with a super hot naked chick, would spend an hour looking at her elbow.'

'I mean, it's a great elbow.' Max replied, and Chloe held it up for inspection, turning it left and then right. 

'I think you're right. Fair enough.' Chloe stretched out further, putting her feet up on the chair next to Max. 'So, is drawing what you want to be doing? Is that the great Max Caulfield life plan?'

'Nah,' Max replied, sliding her knee until it was up against Chloe's and feeling the warmth of her skin through the denim of her jeans, 'I'm majoring in photography. The drawing is just something to help me work better with models and stuff.'

'And when your model is as great as me what better practise could there be?'

'Exactly.'

Alex pushed back through the swing doors carrying two huge plates heaping with steaming piles of noodles and vegetables. 'Here you go,' he said, placing them on the tables, 'enjoy, eat up Chloe, you need to build up that amp carrying strength.'

'Har har.'

'You hope I'm kidding,' he replied as he ducked back into the kitchen. 

Chloe grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the pot in the centre of the table and began shovelling noodles into her mouth with alarming speed. 'Sweet baby Jesus those are hot,' she said, around mouthfuls of food. 'So, am I ever going to get to see your photographs?' 

'Sure, if you come back to my dorm room sometime.'

'It's a date,' Chloe said, with a grin that would be charming if her mouth wasn't still absolutely full of noodles and little pieces of broccoli. She managed to swallow everything in one heroic mouthful, and then noticed that Max wasn't eating. 'Hey, what's wrong?'

'This is… kinda embarassing, but, umm, I can't use chopsticks.' Max finished, embarrassedly. 

Chloe's face split into a wide grin, but rather than the teasing Max was expecting she passed Max a pair of chopsticks, carefully placing them in her hand to show where to hold them. 'Like this, see?'

'Like what?' Max tried to copy Chloe's movements, but one chopstick slipped from her hand and the other span like a compass needle till it was stabbing into her wrist.

'Well, not like that,' Chloe laughed, getting up out of her chair to stand behind Max. Reaching around her, she placed her hand over Max's and moved her fingers. 'You've got to use the base of your thumb, like that, see? Now try and pick up a noodle.' With Chloe's hand still over hers, Max managed to grab one of the noodles and lift it into her mouth, messily slurping the rest of it in. 'See? Nailed it. You're a natural.' Chloe said as she sat back down. 

Max smiled, and with a lot more trial and error managed to get most of her dinner somewhere near her mouth. The food was delicious, Alex did make a damn fine noodle, but Max's mind was on other things. As she had sat there, Chloe's hand on hers, Chloe's breath warm on the back of her neck, their bodies pressed together, she had realised that she was harbouring a major crush on her best friend. 

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I stop shoe-horning Victoria into conversations? Yes. Will I? Never. 
> 
> Yeah. Max has a crush, surprising exactly zero people. 
> 
> As ever, I love commenters so very very much and I'm taking prompts etc. over on my tumblr wrappedupinabook.tumblr.com
> 
> See you tomorrow!


	5. Life Experience: None

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max invites Chloe back to her place, and absolutely nothing happens. I promise.

**Narcissist**  
well duh you have a crush

your lust face could be seen from space

 

 **Boring**  
Wait do you think Chloe knows?

 

 **Narcissist**  
dont ask me

she's your gf

 

 **Boring**  
hahaha  
So what do I do now?

 

 **Narcissist**  
how should I know?

 

 **Boring**  
Well what would you do?

 

 **Narcissist**  
probs either hook up with her and then never call or become waay too invested in an unhealthy power struggle until one of us snaps

 

 **Boring**  
Why do I keep coming to you for advice?

 

 **Narcissist**  
I think you need more than two friendships

especially since you want to ruin one of them

 

 **Boring**  
See that's my whole problem

What if Chloe doesn't like me back and I wreck everything

again

 

 **Narcissist**  
you've got to decide if its worth the risk

okay gtg my flight to london leaves in like twenty minutes and im not done packing

 

…

 

 **Chloe Price**  
YOYOYO MAXIMO!!

whats up buttercup?

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
Not much, studying.

What are you up to?

 

 **Chloe Price**  
im in a jam

max, will u be my hero??

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
Of course!

What do you need?

 

 **Chloe Price**  
I am in desperate need of

dun dun dun

a printer

do u hav one in ur dorm?

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
yeah, what do you need to print?

 

 **Chloe Price**  
resumes

gotta go out and work 4 the mannn

is it ok if I come over r now?

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
Yeah, of course!

Just come right over.

 

 **Chloe Price**  
YESSS MAX U ROCK

I LOVE YOU K I'M COMING OVER

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
:D

 

 **Chloe Price**  
don't push me caulfield

…

'Well hey there little lady. You've not been left here all alone now have you?' Max had opened her door to find Chloe, leaning against the wall outside and doing a fairly convincing cowboy impression.

'Oh gosh, they have,' Max replied, playing along, 'all the menfolk have left the town, and I'm here all on my lonesome!'

'Well, I can help with that,' Chloe said, stepping into the room, then her face broke into a grin as she hugged Max hello. 'Heya max-attack.'

Max couldn't help but feel a little flutter in her chest as she hugged the other girl back, only daring to hold her close for a second before taking a step back. 'So, resume?'

Chloe held up a flash drive, 'way ahead of you.' Max booted up her laptop as Chloe plugged the drive in, then flicked through the files (mostly concert bootlegs) till she found the one called please-give-me-a-job.doc.

'Well, its pretty short,' Max said, looking at the half page summary of Chloe's life. Incomplete high school grades, a reference from a Professor Grant and a list of interests that included live music, travelling, recorded music and very little else. 'Do you want to maybe add some stuff?'

'It's minimalist, I've lived a very zen life.'

'Yep, you're practically a monk,' Max laughed. 'I've not had to apply for a job, but I bet you have more stuff that would help your applications. Did you have any extracurriculars in school?'

'Does getting high in a junk yard and being a disappointment count?'

'I mean, that's probably not the sort of thing they're looking for. How about working at the Two Whales?'

'I guess. I was a crappy waitress though.'

'I remember us both being pretty awesome.'

'Max, you were thirteen.' Chloe walked over to Max's bed and stretched out top of her sheets, hands behind her head. 'Sure, put it on there. It's about the only useful thing I've ever done.'

'Okay, great, umm, how about an internship? Have you done anything like that?'

'Nope.'

'Did you ever do any volunteer work?'

'Nope nope.'

'Umm… were you on student council?'

'Nope nope nope. Look, just assume that if it's something good, or positive, or useful, I haven't done it.'

Max was starting to get irritated, 'Chloe I'm trying to help you here, okay? You don't have to be a bitch.'

'Why?'

'Why what?'

'Why are you trying to help me?'

'You're my best friend Chloe.'

'No I'm not. Not any more. I'm just some random, fucked up kid that you feel sorry for.'

Max span around nervously in her desk chair to look at her friend, unsure how to respond. This was a different side to Chloe than she was used to, this despondency seemed so unlike the excitable teenager she remembered or the free-wheeling adult she had met. 'Chloe, that's so far from the truth I don't… why would you think that?' she began, but it was clear Chloe wasn't hearing her.

The other girl had curled her knees up to her chest and rolled to face away from her. She was picking angrily at Max's comforter, the rest of her body completely still, every muscle tense. Max slowly crossed the room towards her and tentatively placed a hand on Chloe's shoulder, feeling her flinch away from the contact initially. After a moment she rolled back, and Max was surprised to find her eyes were filling with tears.

Angrily, Chloe scrubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. 'Fuck. Sorry.'

'It's okay,'

'No it's not. I shouldn't be dumping all my shit on you.' Chloe took Max's hand, lacing their fingers together again. After a beat, in a rare moment of confidence, Max lay down on the bed next to Chloe, who held on to her hand even more tightly, as if she were afraid Max might float away at any moment.

The two girls lay like that for some time, side by side, watching the shadows on the ceiling shift and lengthen as the light outside began to fade. Max matched her breathing to Chloe. A part of her mind was reeling with thought, things she could do to help Chloe, fears that she was taking advantage of her friend, worries that Chloe might not be doing so well, but another part of her felt perfectly at peace. She felt seriously guilty, but it felt so good to lie this close to Chloe, to feel her hip brush against hers, and the tiny movements she made as she breathed slowly in and out, trying to calm herself down.

'I've really fucked things up, haven't I?' Chloe said, eventually. 'This was supposed to be my big new start, but I've just bought all my issues with me and ruined some new place. And I've ruined things for you too now. I keep trying to move forward but I get stuck on the same things over and over again. You built this whole great new life without me, and I just jumped into it and…' she lapsed into a pained silence.

Max didn't know how to respond, but she wished that she did, that there was some way to know exactly what Chloe needed to hear. That she could be the friend that Chloe needed right now. She started to run her thumb against the back of Chloe's hand as she waited for the words to come.

'Chloe,' she managed to say, after a long pause. 'You didn't fuck anything up. You're just going through, through a rough patch, okay? And I'm here to help. Because I care about you. You're so important Chloe, you're so important to me.'

Chloe rolled over on her side, and Max turned to face her. Their noses were almost touching, and Max had a fleeting thought about how easy it would be to lean forward and kiss her, immediately followed by the thought 'geez Max, read the room. Now is so not the time for that.'

'You always know what to say.' Chloe said, her voice barely above a murmur, her hand still holding Max's. 'How do you do that?'

'That's my super power, duh.' There were still tears on Chloe's lower lashes, Max was so close she could see each one, and she had to fight the urge to wipe them away.

'I missed you so much when you left.' Chloe said, breaking eye contact. 'Did you, you know, did you think about me?'

'Of course! I thought about you every day, I missed you like crazy Chloe, you must know that.'

'But you didn't call. Or write. At all.'

'I wanted to. I wanted to so much I just… I didn't know what to say. I didn't have words for how I was feeling, for how much I was hurting without you. And then it was too late. I was sure you had replaced me with some amazing new best friend and the last thing you wanted was my dorky self bothering you.'

'That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard. As if I would ever not want you to bother me.'

'Well, I guess thirteen year old me was an idiot then. I'm smarter now. I know a good thing when I've got it.'

'Damn right.'

'I'm never letting go of you again Chloe, okay?'

'Please, like I'd let you.'

Max laughed, but there was still a lump in her throat, and she was almost in tears by this point as well. 'I'm really sorry. For everything.'

'Dude, it's okay.' Chloe seemed a lot calmer, a lot more like her usual self, 'that was very not cool of me. I've got all this stuff going on in my head, and I came here and dumped it all on you. I promise I'm not still mad at you for moving away.'

'So you admit it.'

'What?'

'You admit you were mad.'

'Of course I was mad. I was thirteen. I also liked Avril Lavigne and thought jelly bracelets were cool. I grew out of that, and I grew out of being mad at you.'

'Promise?'

'Hey, since when was I comforting you? Let's get back on the feel sorry for Chloe train please.'

'Okay fine. Chloe, I'm sorry I never told you jelly bracelets weren't cool.'

'I accept your apology.' As easily as breathing, Chloe closed the last inch between them and kissed Max on the tip of her nose, just for a moment, than pulled herself into a seating position. 'okay, that's all my emotions for the week used up. Now, it occurs to me that we have six years of BFF catching up to do.'

Max struggled to respond. To sit up. To make her brain take control of her body in any way. The contact between them had lasted a fraction of a second, but Max's brain had leapt to some assumptions that the rest of her body were still struggling to catch up with. Every nerve in her body seemed to be screaming in harmony, and the spot where Chloe's lips has touched her felt like it was on fire. When her pulse had slowed to a little less than a thousand beats per minute she managed to speak.

'What did you have in mind?'

…

'These are actually okay.' Chloe said, still cross legged at the end of Max's bed with her photography portfolio open on her lap. 'I mean, I've definitely taken some better ones, but they're not bad.'

'Shut up.' Max threw a pillow from the other end of the bed, where she was clicking through Chloe's ipod. Chloe ducked out of the way, and the pillow soared over her head, knocking Max's spider plant of its shelf. 'Lisa! Shit.' Max scrambled to her feet and scooped the wounded plant up.

'You named your plant?' Laughed Chloe.

'Shut up about my plant. And shut up about my photos too, I've seen the pictures you take and you have exactly one selfie angle.'

'Woah Max, getting me where it hurts. I have mad selfie skills.' Chloe pulled out her phone and opened her photo folder, while Max tried to scoop some of the dirt off her carpet. 'Okay look, these two are at different angles.' Chloe said, swiping between two almost identical photos.

'Afraid not,' Max said, grabbing the phone and starting to swipe through the photos herself. 'Same angle, same angle, same angle, same angle, same…' the next photo wasn't the same though. The picture was of Chloe and a girl, the same girl Max had noticed during her facebook stalking, but this wasn't a picture she'd seen before. The blonde girl, the pretty one, was laughing hard, her eyes squeezed shut, her mouth wide, but that wasn't what caught Max's attention. It was the way Chloe was looking at the girl, one arm around her shoulder, not even noticing the camera.

Chloe looked at that girl the way you looked at a painting. Like she was the sun. Like she was so beautiful that it hurt to look, but it would hurt more to look away. Chloe looked at her like she was everything.

'Oh, yeah,' Chloe said, a little awkwardly. 'That's Rachel.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so mean to you guys. 
> 
> You all ask for fluff and flirting and happiness and this just sort of... happened.
> 
> If it's any consolation my first draft was way, way worse. 
> 
> Comments are the fuel that drives my author engine, and as ever I accept prompts at wrappedupinabook.tumblr.com


	6. Bowled Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When is a date not a date? When it's a group hang at a bowling alley. 
> 
>  
> 
> (Cw: Homophobic Slur)

Max could feel sunlight against her closed eyelids, the warmth turning her world to a dull red glow. She didn't open them yet though. She wanted to still be asleep. She wanted to be far away. She wanted to be some other person in some other body living some other life. She didn't want to think about last night. 

But the weight of the light was too much to bear. Creakily, Max opened one eyelid, the streaming sunbeams slamming into her. With an almost super-human effort, she managed to roll over and check her clock. She had eleven minutes to get to her first class of the day, photography, and someone seemed to have come in in the night and replaced her hands and feet with bricks. 

As she staggered upright and began trying to find clothes that weren't too gross to wear in public, the events of last night began filtering through her sleep deprived mind. Chloe breaking down. Chloe holding her. Chloe kissing her. Chloe breaking down, again. Chloe not wanting to talk about the girl, about Rachel. Chloe leaving. Max sitting up, trying to find the courage to call. Max wondering what she'd done wrong. Max finally falling asleep as the sky turned a washed out yellow-grey with the sunrise. 

The day was bright, which was irritating. Max wanted weather that matched her mood, clouds and mist and fogs and drizzle. Weather that would let you be confused. In the bright light of day, there was no room for doubt. She had been wrong about everything, and Chloe was in love with the girl back home. 

 

…

 

She slipped into class three minutes late, but the Professor must have had an even worse night than she had because the desk at the front of the room was still empty. Max headed for her usual seat at the back, half the table already occupied by Victoria and the other by a boy perched on the edge of the desk, attempting to flirt. As soon as she saw Max coming, Victoria shooed him with a wave of her hand and he slunk away, his pride wounded. 

'Is no one safe from your charms?' Max asked, sliding into her chair and trying to seem more awake than she felt. Considering that she was upright with open eyes, she felt like she was doing a pretty great job. 

Oh trust me, he is,' Victoria responded, without so much as a glance in the boy's direction, 'no dress sense whatsoever, and he asked me to a barbecue at his cousins house as a date. Not a tough decision.' 

'Poor guy.'

'Do you want to console him?' She didn't wait for a reply, 'you look truly awful by the way. I hope it's for fun, up all night with Ms. Price reasons.'

'Not fun reasons, no.'

'Care to elaborate?'

'Not particularly.'

Victoria actually looked at Max's face for a moment. 'Can I have an out of ten for that?'

'What?'

'Like, on a scale from not fun because we watched Sandra Bullock movies and cuddled all night and I only like Miss Congeniality to not fun because I tried to kiss her and she turned out to be a Christian fundamentalist with a hand gun, how bad are we talking.'

'Not fun as in I pushed her into having a nervous break down and then realised that she was still in love with her ex-girlfriend, so not only will I never be her girlfriend but I might not even be her friend any more but I'm still enrolled in a class that requires I go stare at her naked for an hour every week. That kind of not fun.'

'That is certified not fun.'

'And she's prettier than me.'

'Who is?'

'The ex-girlfriend.'

'Ah. Well that is possible.'

'And the worst part is she wouldn't even admit it, but I saw a picture of them together and it was so clear on her face. She just says that she's called Rachel and then clams up and says she's really tired and goes back home and she hasn't texted me since, and…' but Max trailed away. 

Victoria had gotten very still, and the points of rose that usually showed in her cheeks had faded, leaving her a waxy yellow colour. She was rubbing one thumb on the edge of the table, her eyes fixed on a point in the distance. If Max didn't know any better, she'd say that Victoria Chase was sacred. 

'What's wrong?'

A few seconds passed before she spoke. 'Rachel Amber? Is that who you're talking about?'

'I'm not sure, I think she went to school with you and Chloe, so probably.'

'Remember when Chloe was talking about a something bad happening to a friend of hers?'

'Of course I remember, I was actually there, unlike you.'

'Okay, but I was there for the something bad. Rachel was the friend. Its a little more complicated than Chloe still liking her ex.'

'Complicated how?'

It was Victoria's turn to be reluctant with information. After another pause she spoke, still firmly avoiding eye contact and looking shaken. 'Some really, really nasty stuff happened at Blackwell. It involved a lot of people, including Rachel. And Chloe. And me.'

'Nasty stuff like what?' Max, who had felt so tired moments ago was suddenly rejuvenated. She had misunderstood, and now she was closer than she'd ever been to understanding Chloe. She felt like there was some big piece of the puzzle she was missing, some final clue that would fall into place and suddenly everything would make sense. Suddenly, she and Chloe would be closer than ever. 

'Look,' said Victoria, an edge to her voice, 'I don't love dragging up my past trauma right before class okay. Bad things happened. I did some bad things. I learned from them, and now I want to leave them behind. If Chloe wanted you to know all the sordid details she would have told you, and I'm not responsible for fixing all your relationship drama okay?'

Max sat in stunned silence, then went to speak just as the Professor entered the room. Victoria fixed her attention firmly at the front of the class, her body language cactus like and cold, making it clear that the conversation was over. The burst of energy was gone, burned out to bitter coffee grounds and more confusion. Every time she touched Chloe's past it slipped further away and Max made an even bigger mess. 

She tried to tune into the Professor's voice, to find something that made sense but her mind was still reeling. The classroom clock moving in painfully slow circles became all she could pay attention to. 

Five minutes before the end of class, Victoria broke the silence. 'That, was not cool.' 

'Is that a Victoria Chase apology?'

'I meant your behaviour. It's not cool to go rooting around in other people's business, but you didn't know. So my reaction,' she shot Max a look that could cut steel, 'while justified, wasn't fair on you.'

'Well I'm sorry. I don't know what went on. You're right though, if Chloe wanted me to know she would tell me. Will tell me.' 

Victoria's colour had returned to its normal painted porcelain doll state, and her breathing was easy again. 'You've not given up hope then?'

'I can't. Chloe needs me, especially if whatever you guys went through is as bad as you say. I just need to get closer to her. Make her feel comfortable.'

'Just ask her out like a normal person.'

'A normal person like you?'

'Touché.' 

Max sat mulling it over for a few minutes, one eye still on the class clock. 'I can't just ask her to go out with me alone for no reason, that's too pushy.'

'You've been going to dinner together.'

'After class, there's context to that. I don't want to scare her off.'

'Max, your fears are not like other people's fears.'

Another pause. 'I suppose I could ask her to come hang out with me.'

'So, on a date.'

'Well, it wouldn't be a date if there were other people there.'

It took a second for Victoria to realise what she was talking about, but when she did the answer was immediate. 'No.'

'Please Victoria!' 

'Have you not traumatised me enough already today. Look, I'm rooting for you two morons, because  
honestly it is hilarious to watch you tie yourself into knots, but I will not spend a precious evening third wheeling.'

'Please Victoria. You don't have to third-wheel. Bring a date. Bring lots of dates.'

'No.'

'I'll do anything, please.'

'You have nothing that I want.' 

'Victoria,' Max's voice was serious, 'I'm scared. I'm so close to throwing away my last chance. I'm asking you, as my friend, to help me.' There was another pause, and Max thought she'd blown it till Victoria smiled her familiar, Abercrombie and Fitch model smile.

'Do you at least promise to something embarrassing I can laugh at?'

'With my luck, its a certainty.'

 

…

 

She'd been typing the message over and over again for what felt like hours. What to say, what not to say. She only had one chance left, everything with Chloe was hanging on by a thread. She'd managed to upset Victoria too now, so it seemed like any prospect of having friends at all for the rest of her college career felt like it was resting on a single message. No pressure. 

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
Heya

 

Nailed it. Max stared at her computer screen, waiting for a response. She span, idly in her chair, watching the dot that said Chloe was online. Waiting for a bleep that could slow her breathing to normal human levels. She put her fingers in her mouth, and started pulling at a hangnail on her thumb. She'd thought she'd kicked that habit, but apparently not. 

A sound from her computer jolted out of her nervous thoughts. A message. From Chloe. 

 

 **Chloe Price**  
heyy

look  
abt last night

I said i've got some stuff to work on

and I dont want to dump it all on u

so sry for running out but ya know

blah

sorry

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
It's totally okay

I was a little worried

But it's totally fine if you need a little space

 

 **Chloe Price**  
nah im good for space

except that this apartment is tiny

I just panicked for a bit

but we're cool 

I actually super miss u

which is so needy becus its been like a day but w/e

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
Needy is fine

I was actually going to ask if you wanted to hang out tomorrow night?

Me and some friends are going bowling, should be pretty fundamental

 

 **Chloe Price**  
woaahh for a second there caulfield I thought u were asking me out 

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
What? 

As if. 

**Chloe Price**  
ruuuuuuuuude

u would be lucky to take me out

I would rock ur world 

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
Easy tiger

 

 **Chloe Price**  
ah u kno u love it rly

sure tmrw night sounds fun

meet at ur place

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
Yeah, does seven sound okay?

 

 **Chloe Price**  
rad

look 4 me, ill be the mysterious hottie

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
and ill be the totally over ur mystery cutie

 

 **Chloe Price**  
u said it cutie

and 

i'm rly sry abt last night

I promise I usly wait to get to know someone a bit better befor crying all over them

 

 **Max Caulfield**  
It's totally fine. 

What are friends for?

 

…

Victoria and Max were waiting outside the dorm building, shivering in the early evening breeze, waiting for Chloe. Victoria had a car, so Max had managed, with even more pestering and flattery, to get her to agree to drive them all to the bowling alley, but Chloe was twenty minutes late and Victoria was starting to get impatient. 

'We're meant to be meeting Celeste,' she said, the words leaving steam curling through the air. 

'She'll be here.'

'You know,' Victoria continued after a pause, 'I would never have agreed to be your wingman if I'd known you wanted to go bowling.'

'You're not my wingman. You're moral support.'

'Bowling is disgusting,' Victoria continued as if she hadn't spoken.

'I thought it would be kind of retro cool,' offered Max.

'Of course you did you hipster. Retro is just vintage for terrible things. I mean honestly, everything about it screams tacky. Rented shoes. Sticky floors. Sticking your fingers in holes everyone else already has.'

'Really Victoria? I didn't think you were fussy about where you stuck your fingers.'

The first punch to her arm caught Max unawares, but she anticipated the second, and managed to duck away from Victoria's righteous fury. A slap to the face seemed headed her way before they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

'Heya!' Chloe, barely dressed for the weather in a jean jacket and beanie had rounded the corner and was watching, clearly amused. 'Now I'm never one to stop two beautiful ladies going at it, but don't we have somewhere to be?' 

'Hi Chloe,' Max replied, and Chloe wrapped her in another of the hugs that seemed to come so easily. Peaking over her shoulder, Max could see Victoria raise one eyebrow at the display of affection, but Max couldn't bring herself to care. Chloe was here. They were friends. Things were okay. 

They walked over to Victoria's car, a gleaming silver Mercedes that put Max in mind of a shark, and Chloe went to open the passenger side door for Max. 'M'Lady.'

'Gross,' replied Max, but before she could slip into the seat Victoria stopped her. 

'Nuh uh, Celeste is going to ride up front. You two can get cozy in the back seat.'

'Fine with me,' Chloe said, shooting a smile at Max that made her stomach do a lazy somersault. 'Just like old times. You still need a booster seat Max?'

'Ha ha,' Max said, opening the car door and sliding inside to join Chloe. She shut the door behind her and the car light switched off, leaving the back seat in shadows. Chloe reached across the little space between them and squeezed her hand. 

'Thanks for inviting me out tonight,' she said. 'I'm glad we're okay.'

Max squeezed back, trying to make Chloe understand how much more than okay they were with a single touch. Words didn't seem to be her friend recently. 

 

…

 

The lights of the city slid past the windows as they drove, Celeste now installed in the front seat and something soft and acoustic from Victoria's ipod playing on the radio. Each neon sign and store front they passed changed the shadows of Chloe's face, and Max found herself trying to memorise and line and curve as they softened and sharpened. Chloe was luminous. Max felt light headed, drunk on looking at her, on the light touch of their fingers against one another. 

'What are you thinking about?' Chloe asked, noticing the intensity of Max's expression. 

'Us,' she answered, truthfully. 

 

…

 

All too soon, they reached the bowling alley down town and piled out the car, Chloe wrapping one arm around Max's shoulder as they crossed the parking lot. She held the swing door open for her as well, taking a little bow as she did, and Max curtsied in response, feeling five years old in the best way. The place was almost deserted, a kids birthday party and a big group of college guys were the only other customers and one sleepy looking clerk seemed to be running the place. 

He was completely unprepared for Victoria, who came down hard on the whole rented shoe issue, explaining very clearly that she had worn flats especially, and they matched her blouse so making her change was tantamount to a war crime. He surrendered quickly, and the four girls were soon enjoying their game. 

Max and Chloe were anyway, Victoria and Celeste got bored after a few frames and took to the seats, whispering into each others necks and tracing light patterns down each others arms and across each others thighs. 

Max didn't mind though. After all her stress, she found that she actually wanted Chloe all to herself. 

'Damn that girl works fast,' Chloe said approvingly, taking Victoria's frame for her and deliberately rolling two gutter balls. 

'That's our Victoria,' Max replied, bowling for Celeste and actually trying. She still got two gutter balls, but thoughtful ones. 

'Who is that girl?'

'Celeste? I'm not really sure. She's in some of our classes, and she's British. I think her Dad owns, maybe, Scotland?' 

'She's cute,' said Chloe, casually.

'I thought I was the cute one here.'

'And I thought I was the needy one.' Max pulled a fake pout until Chloe relented, 'Okay, okay. You're still the cutest, happy?'

'Not as happy as I will be when I get this strike,' responded Max, picking up a bright blue ball from the rack that strained the muscles in her forearm. She took her time lining up the shot and rolled the ball in a powerful straight line, and felt vaguely satisfied when she managed to take out a good chunk of the pins. 

'Spoke too soon,' Chloe observed. 

'Hush, I can still save it,' Max chided. She grabbed the same ball, clearly it was lucky, and carefully lined up her shot. She swung her arm back, but as she was about to take the shot she felt Chloe come up behind her and wrap her in a tight hug, throwing the shot completely off and sending the ball straight into the gutter with a dull thud. 

'Uh oh,' laughed Chloe, 'I think if I asked that guy he could put the kiddie bumpers up for you. It might make it a little easier.'

'You are such a cheat!' Max said in mock outrage. 

'Please. It's not cheating to use all the techniques at your disposal.' 

'Is that what they're calling it now?'

'Hush up and watch a master at work.' Max stepped aside to let Chloe take her turn. Chloe had shrugged off her jacket, and as she picked up the bowling ball her tank top gave Max an excellent look at the defined muscles in her arm. Max was still surprised by how strong Chloe was, and by how much she was enjoying the view. 

As Chloe approached the lane, Max saw an excellent opportunity for some revenge. As Chloe began to swing her arm back Max sneaked up behind her and grabbed her ass. Chloe's ball went completely wild, landing in the next lane over and she turned around indignantly. 

'Who's the cheater now,' she said, her fake anger betrayed by her wide grin. 

'I'm just using all the techniques at my disposal,' Max replied snarkily. 

'I suppose I can't blame you,' Chloe said, 'it is an extremely grabbable ass.'

'I couldn't help myself.'

'It's a blessing and a curse.' Chloe said, before they both dissolved into laughter, collapsing onto the foam-leaking benches in a tangled mess of limbs and breathless grins. 

'Get a room,' Victoria called from across the lane, but Max was having too much fun to care. 

'So, is it my best feature?' Chloe asked, after they had both regained a little control.

'What?'

'My ass, is it my best feature? I mean, you're lucky enough to have seen the whole package.'

'I'm not sure I'd go far, but it probably the nicest bare ass I've ever seen.'

'And is it the only bare ass you've ever seen?'

'Of course not! My six year old cousin once dropped his pants in front of me.'

'I am honoured I came out on top among such stiff competition.' 

'You really should be.' 

'And how does the rest of me compare?'

'To my six year old cousin? Pretty well.' It all felt easy again. She was on safe ground, a little funny, a little mean, working hard to keep the conversation light. Max didn't have a whole lot experience, but she was pretty sure telling a girl how nice her ass was was firmly in flirting territory, and if they were flirting then the night was going better than she had hoped. 

They were sitting practically on top of each other, one of Chloe's arms round Max's shoulder, the other in Max's lap where it had fallen when they sat down. Chloe hadn't thought to move it, and Max was not about to remind her. 

'So,' Chloe asked, 'do you come here often?'

'I beg your pardon?' Max was blinking by the honest to God pick up line she thought she had just heard. 

'The bowling alley, is this where the cool art school kids go on their wild nights out.'

'Definitely not, I just googled this place.'

'Where do you hang then?'

'Personally? In my dorm room. My friday nights are pretty much exclusively netflix and chill, and only in the depressingly literal sense.'

'Well, we can fix that. The Chloe Price fun patrol has come to town.'

'That makes you sound like a guy trying to get me into an unmarked van with the promise of candy.'

'Yeah, but its free candy,' Chloe said, turning her 60 watt grin on again. Whenever Max was with her she found herself searching for things she could say that would make Chloe give her one of those smiles. 

'Well, where do all the cool drop out kids party?' 

'Some guys basement usually. There are a lot of house shows, the scenes really good here. Plus, I sneak into bigger gigs by posing as security which is usually pretty sweet.'

'Really?'

'Get a fluorescent yellow vest and no one ever questions you. Best 99 cents I ever spent. Speaking of 99 cents,' Chloe had noticed an old school claw machine in the corner of the bowling alley. 'Maaaax,' she whined, 'win me a prize.'

'Chloe I am so bad at those things. If there's one thing I've proved these last few weeks it's that I have the hand eye coordination of a turtle. With no legs. A no-legged turtle.'

'Pretty please?'

 

…

 

Max fed another quarter into the machine, banishing ghostly apparitions of her student loans as she did so. She almost had it. Battling with all her strength, she dragged the claw across the top of her booth, her focus intense. The mechanical arm lowered, reached, closed and there, dangling by one tiny paw, the stuffed otter she had been trying to win for the last half hour. Barely daring to breathe, she dragged the joystick to the left and deposited the toy into the chute. 

'Yes!' Chloe shouted, grabbing it triumphantly. 'Victory is mine!' 

'And what did you do to help?'

'Victory is ours!' Chloe amended, holding the little otter up and making it kiss Max on the nose, on the exact spot Chloe's own lips had been only a few days ago. 'Thank you for saving me Max!'

'You're welcome little guy.'

'So what shall I name him?' Chloe asked, turning the toy over in her hands.

'Captain Max, after his hero of course.'

'Nah, I don't need a new Max. I like the one I've got already,' Chloe said, looking up to meet Max's gaze. It must have been some trick of the bowling alley's crappy lighting but her eyes were the bluest things Max had ever seen. She felt like she could drown in them. Chloe seemed on the verge of saying something else, the words half formed, when she looked past Max and something else distracted her. 'Hey, is Victoria okay?'

Max turned round. Celeste must have stepped away, because Victoria was alone in the booth. Well, not alone, one of the college guys Max had noticed earlier had come over and started talking to her, and from Victoria's posture it was clear that he was not welcome. Chloe and Max walked over hurriedly, and as they drew closer Max recognised the guy, he was in her photography class, and he'd asked her out the day before. It seemed he'd taken advantage of a little liquid courage to have a second try. 

'Come on baby,' he whined, leaning down with an outstretched arm to pin Victoria into a corner. 'Give me a shot.' His eyes raked her up and down as his mouth curled into something half way between a smile and a sneer. Max felt a shiver go down her spine, and reached for Chloe's hand, the now familiar grip sending a warm swell of comfort through her chest. 

'No,' Victoria said shortly, a little less composed than Max was used to, clearly ruffled. 'I… I have a boyfriend.'

'That's not what you said yesterday,' the guy replied, placing his other hand on Victoria's thigh. 

Squeezing, Chloe's hand for courage, Max took another step forward. 'She said no.' Her voice was a little higher than usual, but loud enough for the guy to hear. 

He turned around, his eyes a little unfocused but angry and stared at her. 'And who asked you,' he glanced down at Max's hand wrapped in Chloe's, and his top lip curled, 'dyke.'

Max wasn't sure what order everything happened next. When she looked back, she remembered the pit of her stomach falling away in fear, a sudden absence of Chloe's hand in hers, and then the guy flat on his ass, hands at his face where a crimson bloom was rapidly spreading from his flattened nose. For perhaps two seconds it was dead silent apart from Chloe's heavy breathing and the tinny speakers blaring S Club 7. Then all hell broke loose. 

The guy started yelling to his friends, who began to get up and come over, curious as to the noise. Victoria was on her feet in an instant. 'We have to go,'

'I can take them.'

'Chloe there are ten of them we have to go now. Max!'

Max pulled on Chloe's hand. 'Come on,' she said urgently, the guys friends were almost close enough to see what was going on, and he was starting to get to his feet. She said it again, louder, 'come on Chloe!' and Chloe seemed to come back to her senses. 

In another instant, the two girls were running, Victoria ahead of them already grabbing Celeste, standing by the entrance with a can of coke and looking around confusedly. In a few paces they were at the door, then through it, Victoria sliding into the car and starting the engine. They heard the doors open again behind them, the yells of the clerk carried out into the night air and knew the group of guys were right on their tail. Chloe released Max's hand and, in a moment of pure action movie drama, slid over the bonnet of Victoria's car, yanking the door open and jumping inside. Max was a second behind her, she heard the locks click shut a micro second before the first guy slammed into the car door, his fist hammering on the window. 

'Drive!' Max and Chloe yelled in unison.

'No shit!' Chloe responded, putting the car into drive and shooting across the parking lot.

'The exit is that way!'

'I know, but so are a bunch of assholes so I need a little speed.' Victoria swung the car in a wide arc till it was facing the exit, then put her foot down again, ignoring the crowd of guys between the car and the gate. 

'Victoria,' Max said, in a warning tone of voice as they got closer. 'Victoria. Victioria!'

At the last possible moment, the guys scattered and car sailed through the empty air where they had been moments before. Once they were on the open road, and the initial shock had worn off, everyone began shouting at once. 

'What the fuck is wrong with you people?' Asked Celeste.

'Did you all see that?' Crowed Chloe, hammering her fists on the head rest of the seat in front of her, 'I am a machine!'

'I swear to shit Chloe is you scratched my car they will never find your body!' Yelled Victoria. 

'What the hell just happened? Seriously, what the hell just happened?' Was all Max could find the words for, the fear in her body replaced with a shot of pure adrenaline. She felt like all her blood had been replaced with Red Bull. 

'I am a hero!' Chloe kept yelling, 'I am the greatest of all time! I am the champion of the world!' 

The car rang with their confused shouts and excitement as they headed out into the night, the lights of the city brighter than Max had ever seen them. 

 

…

 

Victoria and Celeste said that they felt too wired to sleep and had headed out to a club Chloe knew, but Max and Chloe were in Max's dorm room, the light from the single bulb making everything seem faded and dream like. 

'So.' Max said, her left leg jiggling with left over energy.

'So.' Chloe agreed. 

'Crap, you're bleeding!' Max noticed suddenly, looking at the knuckle of Chloe's left hand. 

Chloe glanced down, like she hadn't realised before. 'Huh.'

'Let me get you a band aid.' Max started rifling through stuff on her dresser. 

'It's okay.'

'Shut up. It's not every day someone tries to defend your honour.'

'Seriously, it's fine.'

Max's search was getting a little more frantic now, 'I definitely had some. Why can't I find them. Where are they?' She was making a mess now, tipping up boxes and knocking things over, till Chloe came up behind her, crossed her arms over her chest and rested her chin on Max's head. 

'It's okay.' Chloe said, and this time Max believed her. 'Plus, look who I have to comfort me.' From the pocket of her jacket, slightly crushed from his rough journey, was the little otter. 'I think I'm going to call him punchy, after his Moms' proudest moment.' Max couldn't stop a chuckle escaping. 

'Sorry.' Max said, after a few moments of standing like that, drawing deep breaths in unison. 'I guess I'm more shaken than I thought. That's never…' her voice caught in her throat and she tried again, 'I've never been called that before.'

'Seriously?' Chloe asked. 'I get it all the time. Maybe it's the hair. Still, did you come out yesterday?'

Max was enjoying the warm feeling of Chloe wrapped around her, feeling their bodies press together as they both inhaled. 'I've not really done it yet.' 

'Seriously?' Chloe asked again, this time even more incredulously. 

'I've not told my parents, and Victoria just seemed to know so I didn't have to. There's not really anyone else. Except you of course, and you seemed to know too.'

'My spider senses are very advanced.' 

They just stood for a moment, enjoying the stillness, enjoying the words that hung in the air around them, both spoken and unspoken. Breathing in each others truths. 

'You should stay here tonight,' Max said, after a while. Chloe didn't even bother arguing, it was clear from her face that the night's events were starting to catch up with her. She slipped out of her jeans and jacket, and pulled off her bra from under her shirt. Max tried not to stare, reminding herself that she'd seen everything already. Still, is was one thing seeing Chloe in some chilly classroom full of strangers, and another to have her here in her bedroom within touching distance. 

'I'll take the floor', Max said, crossing to her wardrobe to grab the spare blankets she kept there, but when she turned back Chloe was looking at her oddly.

'Umm, why?'

'Because you're my guest, so you get the bed duh.'

'Max, I know my huge muscles may have confused you, but there is plenty of room for both of us in here.'

'I know, its just… I don't anything to… you know. Happen.'

Chloe still looked confused, 'Max, nothing is going to happen. Not with me here.'

And like a shot, the guilty pit was back in Max's stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You: If this is a Pricefield fic why is Victoria in every scene  
> Me: Victoria is my child and I love her
> 
> So yeah, an incredibly long chapter to test your endurance and prove I have no life. 
> 
> I don't love the class room scene with Victoria, I think i rushed through what needed to be said but I wanted to get my daily chapter out and didn't want to leave you with another angst fest. So here, have a delicious drama/fluff/drama sandwich 
> 
> Commenters get virtual pet otters to play with all day long :D 
> 
> See ya tomorrow for whatever it is I seem to be doing with my life


	7. The truth shall set you free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (CW: Mentions of assault, drug use)

Chloe looked so peaceful when she was sleeping. Her face was usually so alive, she was made of motion, but for once it was nice to see her rest. Max had woken up a little while ago, but she couldn't bring herself to check the clock, or her phone, or to even think about getting out the bed yet. There was nothing she wanted to do more right now then watch the other girl sleep, and yes, she knew that was more than a little bit creepy. 

Max snuggled deeper into blankets warmed by Chloe's body heat, acutely aware of every place their bodies were touching each other, no matter how light the point of contact was. Chloe had spread out starfish style while she slept, and so their legs were wrapped around each other, and whilst one hand was stretching off the bed into space, but the other was still in Max's, just like it had been as they'd fallen asleep. They'd lain in bed together like that for what had felt like forever, though they were both so tired it was more likely minutes, their faces inches apart, speaking in soft whispers about nothing at all. It had felt so safe, and so good, it had felt like coming home after a long trip. Chloe felt like home. 

As much as waking up with this girl in her bed felt safe and sleepy and soft and warm and pale gold and right, Max was still conflicted. At times like this, it felt like it might be easier to be Chloe's friend. She'd get to be with her, to watch her, to be a part of her world in the way she didn't know she had missed until she dived back in head first. 

On the other hand, when Max thought back to the moments when Chloe had held her, had squeezed her fingers, had kissed her (Max still had a struggle believing it sometimes, as she repeated the words to herself, Chloe kissed me, Chloe kissed me, Chloe kissed me), it seemed impossible. How was she supposed to be around this girl and not always want to be touching her, to be feeling her skin against hers, that crackle of electricity. 

There was no way she could pretend not to feel it forever. Eventually, Chloe would figure it out, God knows it wasn't like she was being subtle, and then everything would be perfect, or everything would be over. Max just wished she knew for sure how things would end, wished she could read Chloe's mind and know how she felt. She tried to lay out the facts, tried to approach the project with her head, rather than her heart, which had quickened an alarming amount since she had started thinking about the girl lying across from her. 

Chloe liked girls, obviously, but that didn't mean she liked Max. She complimented Max, but she complimented other girls too. She kissed Max, once, and she was always reaching for her, holding her, but it seemed to come so easily, so naturally that Max couldn't believe the actions meant the same things to both of them. Chloe did something without thinking that sent Max's heart in kaleidoscope spirals. The problem, Max realised, was that she had no frame of reference as to what was best friend behaviour and what was girlfriend behaviour. Maybe everything Chloe did, all the flirty jokes and light touches and confusing signals, maybe it was all just part of how girls were meant to interact with each other. 

Hanging over all of it though, like an invisible shadow, was Rachel. Rachel Amber, God, even her name sounded pretty. Max knew, from the terrible reactions she had gotten previously, not to bring her up again, but the curiosity burned inside her. What had happened? What had made Victoria so scared, Chloe so angry, both of them so full of guilt? The longer she thought about it, despite trying to force it from her mind, the worse and worse her theories got. 

…

Chloe's face started to come alive slowly, flickers of expression rippling across her features like a breeze across a lake. After a few moments one eye cracked open and looked at Max, still heavy lidded and blinking away sleep. 

'Good morning,' she said, her voice still low and hoarse from lack of of use.

'Morning sleepy head.' 

'What time is it?'

Max craned her head around to look a her clock. 'Nearly ten.'

'Don't you have class?'

Max laughed, 'it's a Saturday.'

'Good,' Chloe said, closing her eyes again, 'you can stay here with me all day.'

Max couldn't stop the smile spreading over her face. Chloe was adorable. 'That's the plan.'

Chloe opened her eye again, 'I changed my mind. I'll stay here all day in this super cosy bed, and you can go fetch me food.' She closed her eyes and pretended to fall back asleep until Max hit her with a pillow. 'You're such a bully.'

'And you're a jerk.'

'You're a stupid poo-poo head.'

'Chloe, how could you. After everything we've been through.'

'If you won't let me sleep, I reserve the right to call you whatever I want.'

Max watched Chloe roll over onto her back, her eyes closed, pretending to sleep, but after a few moments she rolled back. 'No good. Guess I gotta get up. The whole day is ruined.' Chloe made eye contact with Max, and for few seconds they just looked at each other, Max enjoying the chance to commit Chloe's face more firmly to memory. 

After a few more seconds, Chloe laughed. 'Well?' she asked, and Max realised she had been waiting for her to climb out of bed so that she could too. Quickly, but not so quickly as to seem as if she was flustered, a fine line she was almost hyper aware of, Max climbed out of bed. Chloe followed her, stretching her arms above her head and yawning widely, and Max took a moment to appreciate the stretch of toned stomach this revealed between the waistband of her boxer shorts and her t-shirt. 

Once again, she was amazed by how different Chloe looked, and, more importantly, felt, here in her bedroom, as opposed to when she was modelling. 

'The showers are down the hall,' Max said, after a moment, 'and you can borrow some of my clothes if you want. I know you're a little taller than me but there should be some stuff that fits.'

Chloe took a second to sniff under her arms (even when she's being gross she looks cute, Max thought, damn I've got it bad), before agreeing. 'Sounds like a plan Max-attack, you have a towel?'

Max crossed to her wardrobe and pulled a clean towel from the top shelf, then passed it to Chloe. 'Third door on the right, and they're communal so you know, try not to scare anyone.'

'Message received,' Chloe said, giving a mock salute and backing out the door, whistling jauntily. Max turned her attention to her wardrobe, trying to find an outfit she owned that Chloe would be willing to be seen dead in. Her usual cardigan-jeans-t shirt combo was a little too gentle for the other girls taste, but she didn't want to try and pick something a little edgier and completely miss the mark. Frustrated, she focussed on dressing herself, picking clothes mostly at random and trying to properly wake herself up. 

Before she knew it, Chloe was back, barging into the room in nothing but a towel and a cloud of Max's apricot shower gel, her wet hair plastered close to her forehead. 'Well, I may have just scared a couple half to death but honestly, if you're going to hook up in a public space you've got it coming to you.' 

'Well, try not to traumatise too many of my neighbours, okay?'

'I make no promises,' Chloe said, shaking her head wildly like a wet dog and spraying Max in the process. She scooped her underwear up off the floor and, Max turned her head, dropped her towel as she pulled them on, then walked over to Max's wardrobe. After rummaging inside a little she grabbed jeans, a t-shirt, a red plaid shirt, and got dressed. Max was surprised to see how different her familiar clothes looked on the other girls body.

'Plaid, huh?' Chloe said, examining the shirt she had put on in more detail, 'and you're sure your parents don't know yet?'

'Ha-ha,' Max fake laughed, drily, 'and I'm sure telling Joyce was an absolute breeze, right?' 

'I don't think I ever actually got round to telling her. I'm pretty sure that between the posters of chicks with their tits out and the very NC-17 sleepovers I was having she worked it all out. Besides it's not a huge part of my life, what with my chronic singleness.'

'Right, like you don't have girls falling over themselves to date you.'

'Well, you have a point.' Chloe gave a grin that showed a flash of teeth, 'but I have this habit of falling for girls with way too high standards for lil' old me.' The grin was still there, but a little more fixed now, and Max got the feeling they were on the brink of something a little truer than before, a moment's balance on a cliff's edge. 

It was just a moment though, and then the strange expression was washed from Chloe's face by one of her easy laughs. 'Anyway I'd be a terrible girlfriend.' 

'Now I know that's not true.'

'Careful there Max, I might think you were flirting with me.'

Max gave what was possibly the fakest laugh in human history. 'As if.'

'Fine, have it your way.'

Max swung her mind around, trying desperately to think of conversation topics other than the completely fictional and not at all obsessive crush she had on Chloe. The crush in question, meanwhile, was roaming her room, peering at her things like they were a museum exhibit, and not a particularly interesting one at that. 

'Are these for class?' She asked, running one finger along the books on the top shelf of Max's little plywood bookcase. 

'Most of them.'

'They look boring.'

'Most of them are, or at least the stuff in them is cool, but they show it in a boring way.' Chloe was looking at the shelf underneath now, which held Max's collection of cameras and equipment. 

'Where do you get all this stuff?' Max laughed and stepped forward, pointing out some of her favourites. 

'Umm, so that was the first analogue camera I ever had, you probably remember it actually, it was a gift for my, I don't know, twelfth birthday? This is the camera I use most for my course, it's a Sigma I found in this tiny store in Seattle. What else? This lens was my Dad's, and this flash was a going away present from some of my friends back home. Oh, and this video camera's broken, but I'm trying to get it repaired and when I do it'll take super-8 film, and I'm really excited to experiment with, umm, recording video on analogue film…' she tailed off, a little embarrassed. 'This is really boring, isn't it?'

'Nope.' Chloe said, cheerfully, 'it's actually kind of cool to see you get all passionate about something. You're cute when you're enthusiastic.' 

'Shut up.'

'I tell only the truth. Talk to me more about photography stuff.'

'I…' Max was at a loss, 'I can't think of anything else to say.'

Chloe was looking more closely at the camera's now, running a finger over cool metal and plastic. 'Which is your favourite?'

'My favourite camera?'

'Yeah.'

'Umm, this one, I guess?' Max picked up the little compact polaroid, absent-mindedly running one finger along the scuff along the side she had made that summer, almost running into a wall. 'Photography is, umm, I mean, to me photography is about capturing a moment. What's happening and, umm, and how you feel in it, right? So I love experimenting, and trying out different techniques and using all this great equipment to get better shots, but this is instant. You wait until you're having a moment you know you'll want to remember and then you just…'

She was cut off by Chloe, who grabbed the camera out of her hand and slung one arm around her shoulder.

'Smile!' and Max had a half-second to react before the flash went off in her eyes. 

'Not cool Chloe,' she said, blinking away the after image. 

'I wanted to capture the moment of you being a huge, adorable dork.' 

'I thought I was meant to be the photographer in training?'

'Well, I can be your wise-cracking apprentice. How did it come out?' She asked, as Max removed the cardboard square from the front slot of the camera. 

'It'll take a little while to develop. I need to put it somewhere dark.' Max said, as she slipped the photo into the drawer of her desk. 'Surely you know some of this stuff already right? Victoria took photography classes in high school.'

There was a pause before Chloe answered. 

'It was an elective.' she finally said, her tone artificially light and breezy. 'I did more of design focussed course, graphics, fine art, that sort of thing.'

'Oh,' Max said, a little confused by the other girl's reaction but unwilling to push it. She may be a slow learner when it comes to the ways of the new Chloe Price but she wasn't completely oblivious. 

There was another longer pause, and Chloe stepped away from the shelf, lightly tracing one hand along the wall, clearly thinking something over. She stopped when she reached Max's door and turned on her heel, sinking to the floor till she was sitting. 

Another pause, even longer, while Max waited. 

Then, 'what did Victoria tell you?'

'About what?' the answer was almost too fast, Max knew exactly what Chloe was talking about. 

'About Arcadia Bay, and Blackwell. And Rachel.'

'That something bad happened. That involved you guys.'

'That's it?'

'She said she felt, I don't know. Guilty. And that if you wanted me to know you would tell me yourself.' 

'Chicken,' Chloe said, and tried to laugh at her own joke before it died in her throat as a soft, small sound. 

There was another pause, and this one seemed to stretch out infinitely. 

Max's eyes fixed on the girl in front of her. She slowly moved to her chair and sat down, afraid to speak a word in case she scared Chloe into silence again. 

When Chloe did speak, it was in a flat, low voice, her gaze levelled at some invisible spot on the horizon. She spoke slowly, as if choosing her words carefully, as if trying to stay in control. 

'There was this guy. At Blackwell. A teacher. He joined just after I got kicked out. He taught photography. And all the while he was teaching, he was…'

Chloe took a deep breath and looked at Max, 'toss me my jeans?' Max leant over and grabbed them, then passed them to Chloe, who reached into the pocket and pulled out a grey metal cigarette case and cheap plastic lighter. She took a slow breath, and opened the case, took out a joint and put it in her mouth. It took her three tries to light it, the little flame of the lighter flickering against her thumb. Eventually the end caught, and she took a deep drag, slowly exhaling a stream of smoke into the air. Max couldn't bring herself to care about the fire alarm. 

There was another long pause, Chloe's joint was almost a burnt out by the time she spoke again. 

'He would choose a kid. A girl, they were all girls. He would talk to her, and get to know her, and then he would… fuck.'

Chloe's eyes were now fixed firmly on the floor. 

'He drugged them. And took them to this place, a barn, I think, in the woods, I never, umm, I never saw it. He took them. He took pictures. Of the girls. Posed them while they were unconscious. Then the next day they'd wake up and not remember it. Or I guess they sort of did, I don't. I don't know.'

Chloe's voice sounded faint behind the dull roar of blood filling Max's ears. She couldn't think, couldn't breathe. All her theories had been some adolescent after-school special bullshit, a teen pregnancy or drug scare about the worst her brain could think up. All this time her friends, her best friend, had been coping with this, and she'd been reopening scars with a dull knife. 

'Were you…' she finally asked, unable to even guess how she might finish that question. 

'No,' Chloe answered, finally looking up, her eyes red-rimmed with tears. 'Umm, he didn't…' and then, after a pause, the word Max had been half expecting half dreading, 'Rachel.'

Chloe was still looking at Max, her eyes far away. 'The kid that had been helping him, umm, screwed up. He was trying to, I don't know, impress this guy. So he drugged Rachel, to bring him to her. He fucked up the dosage though, she went under hard, and he freaked out and called an ambulance. And then the police got involved and the two of them were arrested I think? I don;t know, I don't really remember much. There was a lot of rumours and shit. I don't know.'

'Is Rachel,' Max tried to think of a way to phrase it delicately, 'okay?' 

'She's alive, if that's what you mean,' Chloe said with a mirthless smile, 'They managed to treat her. Gave her transfusions, I think. She was in intensive care for a while, and then she went to a hospital back East for a bit. Then she went back to live with her parents. Obviously. I mean, imagine.' 

'And…' Max didn't know what to say, how to act, this was nothing she had prepared for. 'Victoria?'

'The guy. Mark, he was, he was called Mark. He had files on all the students. Victoria had one, she never, I mean he never… she wasn't one of the girls. But someone told her about this file he had on her. Stuff he had found out. Ways he would convince her to come with him. Ideas,' she was a more disjointed now, harder to understand, 'ideas for pictures.' 

'Fuck,' was all Max could manage.

'Right. Yeah.'

The silence was thick all around them. 

Max, moving mostly by instinct crossed the room towards Chloe's seat on the floor, moving slowly and deliberately. She lowered herself down next to Chloe and lightly put her hand over the other girl's, which was digging into the carpet as if she was trying to push into the ground below. Chloe immediately jerked away, and Max froze. Then, after a few shaky intakes of breath all the stiffness went out of Chloe's body and she collapsed against Max, leaning into her chest, her body shaking with tears. Max thought that she was gasping for air, but after a few seconds Max began to recognise the words. 

'I'm sorry,' Chloe said, her body folded inwards, her breath tearing through her, 'I'm so sorry.' And Max held her close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, okay?
> 
> I'm sorry for the delay in this chapter, and I'm sorry for everything you just read. 
> 
> I apparently hate joy, go figure. If you stick around for the next chapter I promise much more happy, but for now... this is a thing that happened. 
> 
> Did I mention I'm sorry?


	8. Lunch Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's totally easy to stop yourself having a crush on someone, I promise.

…

Max couldn't say how long they sat like that. 

The tears stopped, after a while. Chloe kept sobbing though, dry, gasping sounds like an animal in pain, her whole body jerking against Max's. Eventually, that stopped too. A mixture of exhaustion and acceptance claimed her, and she lay still, clinging to Max like a rock in a storm. 

The shadow of Max's desk, over by the window, tracked a steady path across the floor, marking the sun's steady progress. Still they sat. The size of what had passed between them, the weight of it, seemed to fill every inch of the small room. There was no way either of them could move, the act of forcing air into her lungs was all Max had the strength for right now. 

Still, they held on. 

By degrees, the room became part of the wider world once again. There was a buzz at the window pane, a fly maybe, and Max tried to focus on it. Focus on what was here, and now, and happening to her. She brought her hand up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind Chloe's ear, and the girl made a soft sound in response. Max stilled, but a moment later Chloe's hand emerged from the tight bundle of her body and found Max's, and their fingers knit together again. 

More silence. A little softer, maybe. 

Chloe was no longer holding onto Max like a lifeboat, but she didn't want to let go just yet either. They were, for the time being, one person. They breathed in and out, they focused on being. 

Max tried not to think too much about everything that had been said, worrying that that might be selfish of her. There didn't seem to be any choice though. What had been said was so huge Max felt like she couldn't see the real shape of it. Like a mountain or a skyscraper, she could only look at one small part of it at a time, and from that she had to try and work out a whole. 

She could only imagine how Chloe must have felt. 

Must feel. 

When Chloe spoke, and it was Chloe who spoke first, Max still feeling unable to process everything that had been said, and still hadn't been said. When Chloe spoke, it was in a voice hoarse from crying. 

'The worst part,' she stopped, and coughed a little, clearing her throat, 'the worst part of it all. No the worst part is that it happened, obviously. That we were in this fucking situation. But the part I kept thinking about. When she was in hospital and I was stuck in my room screaming. I kept thinking about the last things we said to each other.'

Chloe blew out a shaky breath, and Max thought for a second she was going to start crying again, but after a beat she continued. 

'We had this huge fight.' she said, 'I told her. I don't know. I asked her out I guessed, and she was pissed. She accused me of some stuff. Lying to her and stuff. And I called her a bitch and,' a shaky breath, a twitch of the shoulder like maybe she wanted to raise her head but thought better of it, 'and I said a lot of stuff I didn't mean. Obviously. And if it had been a normal day we would have been fine. Or if I had kept my mouth shut we would have been fine. She was going to stay at mine the night… yeah. Whatever. I fucked everything because I couldn't keep my mouth shut.' Her voice was faster now, a little more panicked and angry. 

'And now I've gone and fucked up doing,' she pulled her hand out of Max's roughly and punched the ground with each angry word, 'doing', punch, 'the,' punch, 'exact', punch, 'same,' punch, 'thing.' 

Max caught the other girls hand before she could hurt herself again. She was so confused at Chloe's reaction, at how much blame she could pile on the narrow shoulder blades bent in front of her. 

'No,' was all max managed to say at first, running her thumb along the back of the other girls hand in an attempt at offering some sort of comfort. 'Oh my God, Chloe. No. You haven't done anything wrong. Not then and not now, okay?' 

'I'm fucking poison Max.' The voice shook with exhausted anger. 'Everything I touch dies. I shouldn't be here. You're the only good person left and the more I hang around the more chance I have to destroy your life.'

Max held Chloe tighter, lowering her face to the other girls neck, feeling Chloe's heart beat through her own body till she wasn't sure where one of them started and the other ended. She couldn't think of anything that would make this better, that could make the pain stop, so she just told the truth. 'I love you Chloe,' she whispered into the soft hair that still grew the strawberry blonde she remembered, 'I love you.'

Max felt Chloe stiffen, and there was a long moment of panic, before Chloe rolled her body over, lying back in Max's lap, facing upwards towards her. Their noses were a hair's width apart. Max could still see the tears clinging to Chloe's lower lashes. 

'I love you too.' She said softly, so softly that if they had not been almost cheek to cheek Max might have missed it. 'You're my best friend in the world Max.'

Max reached up with her free hand and wiped her thumb across Chloe's cheek catching an eye lash that must have been shaken loose by the tears. 

'Can we just stay here today?' Chloe asked again, still whisper soft. 'Can we just… can we just not go outside?'

'Of course,' Max answered. She was resolved. She could put her feelings, her stupid little crush far to the back of her mind. What Chloe needed now was a friend, and so that's what she was going to be. That was all that she was going to be. 

 

…

 

 **Boring**  
So…

I talked to Chloe yesterday

 

 **Narcissist**  
and?

what did she say?

are you two going to be even more gross and couply than before?

 

 **Boring**  
What?

No! 

Not about that.

About Arcadia Bay

And all

And what happened to you guys

 

 **Narcissist**  
oh

okay cool

saves me a job

 

 **Boring**  
Victoria

If you ever want to talk abt something

I'm here for you

 

 **Narcissist**  
hard pass

dont worry I have a frankly ridiculously expensive therapist for that

you just go back to being obsessed with chloe and ill go back to being witty & wise 

 

 **Boring**  
I am over obsessing with Chloe

 

 **Narcissist**  
you know sarcasm doesn't come over very well on facebook chat

 

 **Boring**  
I'm serious

I am not trying to date Chloe

 

 **Narcissist**  
is trauma not a turn on

because then ill really struggle to set you up with anyone I know

or at least anyone interesting

 

 **Boring**  
No! 

Of course it's not that

Chloe's still

Amazing

 

 **Narcissist**  
gag

 

 **Boring**  
She blames herself for some of the stuff that happened

And she specifically blames a crush on her best friend

So maybe bringing it up

Might not be the most sensitive thing

 

 **Narcissist**  
I suppose u might have a point

:/

although the situation is completely different

I dont think any of our professors are fucking psychotic 

and if they are then I might be cursed yay

lying about your feelings is not going to work out long term 

and the longer you leave it the harder it might be to move on

if you two rly are bffffs

then you can handle an awkward rejection

chloe wont abandon you even if she doesnt like you back

and theres pretty compelling evidence she does

then again maybe I just want to force you two to have a massive confrontation cause that would be the most fun to watch

i'm honestly about fifty fifty on that

 

 **Boring**  
Thanks Victoria

Super helpful as always

 

 **Narcissist**  
ciao bella

xxx 

 

…

 

Max hadn't been listening. She felt justified in that, there was a lot on her mind after all, but now the Professor was staring her down, obviously having asked some question, and she had no idea what to say. She glanced around for help, but Victoria didn't share this period with her, and everyone else was still an unfriendly or unfamiliar face. 

'Well,' she began, stalling for time. 'Well,' she said again, when no new idea presented itself, losing confidence by the second. 

She was saved, figuratively, by the bell, the Professor's phone buzzing to indicate the end of class. She turned her attention away from Max immediately to silence it, and then spoke over the sounds of students shoving books and binders back into their bags. 'Read chapters 12 through 14 of Lodge for next class, paying special attention to what he says about influence and interpretation, okay?'

Max almost sighed aloud with relief at the lucky reprieve, silently vowing to try and pay a little more attention in class from now on. Whatever she decided to do about Chloe getting kicked out of school wasn't part of any plan. She pulled her satchel over her shoulder and headed out the classroom doors, turning down the hallway towards the staircase and running smack into someone waiting outside the room. 

'Sorry,' Max said, not looking up, a little embarrassed, but the other person caught her arm, and she raised her eyes to find her face to face with Chloe. 

'I think I'll live,' the other girl smiled, running her hand down Max's arms to squeeze her fingers, 'heya cutie.'

'Chloe, hi!' Max said, 'what are you doing here?'

'You're not the only person who can wheedle information out of Vicky you know. I found out what class you had and thought I'd stop by. To say thanks. And sorry, for you know, the emotion fest.'

'You don't have anything to apologise for, trust me.'

'And if you keep telling me that, maybe I'll be over it in a hundred years. In the meantime, do you want to grab some lunch? You don't have to rush to another class or something do you?'

'Nope, I've got a couple free hours. Where did you want to go?'

'Well, by totally legal and ethical means I've got a prepaid card for your dorm building dining hall. Max,' she brought both hands together around Max's and dropped to one knee, smiling out of one side of her mouth, 'can I treat you to some cafeteria food?'

'Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!' Max laughed, then pulled the other girl to her feet. 'How can I turn down an offer that good. Whose card is it?'

'I definitely didn't take it from Victoria's wallet on the bowling alley date if that's what your asking.'

'Ah, makes sense, she never uses the dining hall anyway.'

'Exactly, plus I did save her from certain death.'

'You and I may remember that night a little differently.'

'Max, let me have this.'

'You saved her.'

'Thank you.'

 

…

 

Chloe seemed to be on a mission to cram as much food onto her tray as possible. She had four of the hastily assembled burritos they were serving that day, along with a heap of bread rolls, three cartons of milk and a bag of chips. 

The room was only just starting to fill up, it was still a little early for lunch, and the two of them had no trouble finding a table just to themselves. The sat down across from each other, Chloe sprawling her legs wide under the bench and propping her elbows on the table immediately. She seemed to take up almost as much space in the real world as she did in Max's head. 

'Please tell me you're going to eat at least one vegetable today.' Max said, as Chloe began to determinedly fill her mouth with food.

'Beans are a vegetable, right?' she said, through bulging cheeks.

'Oh my God.' Max watched with a sort of fascinated horror as Chloe took a huge swallow and started in on her second tortilla. 'I need to make sure you eat real food. Green food. And not gummi green.'

'Whatever Mom.'

'Do you want me to call Joyce? Because I will call Joyce, if you want to make her drive all the way up here just to make sure you eat a piece of broccoli.'

'Broccoli is disturbing.'

Max didn't even respond, just stared Chloe down until she looked up from the tray long enough to explain herself.

'Max, it looks like tiny trees. I'm not going to eat a tiny tree. That's just wrong.'

'Your logic is not like our earth logic.'

Chloe chugged half a carton of milk then grinned widely at Max. 'Weed counts as a vegetable right? It grows on a plant.'

'I hate you.'

'Love you to Max.' Max's breath caught, just like it always did when Chloe was all so casual with her affections, but it was nothing. Chloe was already back on the burrito attack.

Max took a few bites of her sandwich, then remembered what she had slipped into her satchel this morning after she had found it in her desk drawer. 'Hey, Chloe?'

'Mmmf,' Chloe responded, her mouth almost painfully full. 

'Look.' Max slid the polaroid across the table, the picture Chloe had snapped before everything had gone to shit on Saturday.

Chloe picked it up, being uncharacteristically careful not to make greasy marks on the surface of the photo with her fingers. 'I forgot about this.'

Max smiled, 'its a good shot. Almost good enough for me to forgive you for taking it without asking.' 

'Shut up, you look cute when you think no one's looking. People should take more pictures of you when you're not looking.'

'I guess I don't have your model confidence.'

'Guess not.' Chloe was letting her plate of food grow cold, resting her head in her hands and staring at Max with a knowing smile. 

'What?'

'Nothing.'

'Do I have spinach in my teeth?'

'No, although that is another reason not to eat vegetables.'

'What then?'

'You honestly have no idea how pretty you are, do you?'

'Hilarious.'

'No seriously. Like, it's awesome, because if you know you're hot you end up Victoria. But you're not hot, or cute even. You're pretty like a flower. Or like one of those old paintings. You look like, I don't know, like moonlight.'

Max didn't speak, she didn't breathe. If she had been able to move she might have pinched herself to check that she wasn't dreaming right now. 

Chloe kept her gaze for a few seconds, then returned her focus to the bread rolls that still made a teetering wall at the edge of her lunch tray. 'I just thought I should let you know, because you seem so shy about how you look and stuff.'

'Thanks.' Max said, in a way higher pitch than usual, 'you're too, I mean, you look good. You're attractive, I mean.'

Chloe gave her a slightly strange look and swallowed another heroic mouthful of beans and rice, 'and I know it. Damn, do you think I'd get naked in front of strangers every week if I didn't have it going on?'

Max laughed, and returned to her lunch, grabbing the apple she had picked up and biting into it, enjoying the crisp crack of the skin and the way it flooded her mouth with juice, It was delicious, amazing really. Looking around, she wondered if the sun had come out. Everything looked brighter, more saturated, as if someone had come through the room when she wasn't looking and touched up all the colours. 

'So,' Chloe said, after she had started to slow down a little, three and a half burritos starting to push her limits, 'what do you think they're talking about?' She gestured her head towards the table next to them, where a boy and a girl were having a hushed but emotional conversation, both of them waving their hands and leaning in close.

'They're fighting right?' Max said, paying them attention for the first time. She wasn't really surprised she hadn't noticed them before, with Chloe across from her a full parade could march through the dining hall without her knowledge. 

 

'How could you?' Chloe said in a grating high pitched voice as the girl across from then gave a particularly violent sweep of her arms. 'After everything I've done for you over all these years?'

'She meant nothing babe, I swear it!' Max responded, keeping her voice soft for fear of them hearing, but putting on a low gruff voice to match the beard and wire rimmed glasses of the guy she was supposedly imitating. 

'With my sister?' Chloe continued, sneaking glances at Max to see if she was laughing.

'I thought it was you babe, I swear.'

'She's six foot three!'

'I thought you were wearing stilts!'

'You're not the man I married!' Chloe exclaimed, and then Max and Chloe both laughed aloud as the comment coincided with the girl slapping her lunch buddy full across the face. They couple were silent for a few seconds, then began passionately making out across the table, the front of the girls shirt dragging in her tomato soup as she leant forward. 

'Woah,' Max said, finding it difficult to look away from the slightly horrifying spectacle. 

'Jinkies,' Chloe responded, and they both dissolved into giggles again. Apparently this time they were a little too obvious, because the couple broke off their make up session long enough to shoot them an angry look across the room. 

'Welp, that's our cue to leave,' Max said, scooping up her tray. Chloe shoved the unopened bag of chips and the last milk carton into her hoodie's deceptively spacious pockets and stood up as well. The two of them managed to make it out of the dining room before they started laughing again. 

'So, where to now Maximus?'

'I have another half hour to kill before class, if you still want to hang out?'

'Okie dokie, so show me where the cool art-school kids like to spend their free periods.'

'Well, there is one place I like to go.'

 

…

 

'Max, I can't see a thing.'

'That's kind of the point.'

'Where are you?'

'Over here.'

'That doesn't help at all.'

'Come over to my voice.'

'Marco.'

'Polo.'

'Marco.'

'Polo.'

'Hi.'

'Hi.'

Chloe had found Max by walking straight into her, and the two were now pressed together against the wall. Sure, now Chloe had found her she could step away, but she hadn't yet.

'Hi.' Chloe said again, more quietly.

'Hi.' Max replied. She couldn't see Chloe at all, but she could feel her soft breath against her cheek, and their bodies were still far closer than was necessary. Not that she was complaining. If you had asked Max if this was her intention when she had invited Chloe into the dark room, she would have violently denied it. She would probably have blushed though. 

'So,' Chloe said, so close that her words ruffled Max's hair, 'this is where you wait for things to develop, huh?'

Max laughed, because that seemed like the only option that would let her get out of here with her sanity. 'Yep, this is my secret lab.'

'Are you sure you trust me enough to reveal all your secrets?'

'Yes.'

'Rookie error. I'm not to be trusted. I might do anything.'

A part of Max wished she could see Chloe's face. Another, much bigger part was glad that she couldn't, because if she could see the soft lines of Chloe's lips, a fraction of an inch from her own, well…

she might do anything. 

'What are you thinking?' Chloe asked.

'That I'm glad I met you again.'

'What a weird coincidence,' and Max could hear the smile in her voice, 'I was just thinking the same thing.'

'Yeah?'

'Yeah.'

A few seconds of silence. Well, not silence, because the sound of Chloe's slow breaths filled Max's head almost enough to drown out her own pounding heart. She felt Chloe shift slightly, leaning closer in towards her, and then…

electronic chimes from her pocket. 

Chloe stilled, 'you should probably check that.'

'I don't need to.'

More chimes.

'It might be important.'

More chimes. 

Sighing, Max pulled her phone out. The screen's dull glow was still enough to cast light on the room. As if suddenly conscious of how close they were standing, Chloe took a half step back. Max opened her messenger app. 

**Narcissist**  
not that I care, but we're meant to be giving those presentations in class today and ur already ten minutes late

the prof looks pissed

let me guess what could possibly be distracting yourself

 

'Shit,' Max said. Presentations. Right. She was totally prepared. And calm. Totally. 

'Was it important?' Chloe asked, her face a mix between mirth and something Max couldn't quite identify. 

'I… I kind of have to go.' Max said, hoping the phone's light wasn't enough for Chloe to see how flushed her cheeks were. 'I'm sorry, I just… class. And. Yes.'

Chloe did laugh at that. 'Go. Learn something for me.'

Max smiled, and headed towards the door. When she opened it the flood of light from the hallway she had to stop for a second, the bulbs making patterns of pure white against her retinas. When she had blinked away the bright spots, Chloe was at her side. 'You okay?'

'Yep,' Max said, despite all evidence to the contrary. 'I'll see you later.'

'See you Wednesday.'

'Wait, Wednesday?'

'Of course,' Chloe said, 'for life drawing.'

Of course, Max thought. Of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or- how many fluffy tropes can i squish into one chapter?
> 
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> Finally, these dorks have a slightly better time of it all. 
> 
> Points if you spotted the buffy quote, is my way of hiding blatant plagiarism. 
> 
> Comment givers give me the strength to go on in this dark world, and are duly rewarded. 
> 
> As ever, I take requests on my multi-fandom mess of a tumblr, wrappedupinabook.tumblr.com


	9. Twin Peaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where it turns out we've been in San Francisco this entire time.

_so, you're completely over chloe_

Victoria had scribbled the note in the corner of her sketchbook, then turned her easel slightly so that Max could see. 

_yes_

Max wrote back, when she was sure the Professor's attention was fixed on some guy who was in the depths of a crisis over which kind of tree produced the best charcoal. 

_then why have you spent the past hour staring into her eyes?_

Victoria was right, of course. They were focusing on light today, and so Max thought it was entirely reasonable she had spent the session carefully recording the way Chloe's eyes filled with reflections of the rooms. 

Honestly, Max loved Chloe's eyes. They were bluer now than she remembered them being, maybe a reflection of her new hair colour, and brighter, and now they were ringed with dark shadows that didn;t used to be there. Chloe's gaze flickered over things lightly, like the rest of her they were almost always in motion, but sometimes they would settle on something with an incredible intensity, and Max couldn't help but wonder what Chloe was thinking about. Max liked it best when one of those looks landed on her. When she felt like Chloe was taking her in, really taking her in, pealing back layers of nervousness and fake bravado till they were both kids again. 

It didn't matter though, because like Max had said, she was over her crush. 

_you're one to talk_

Max wrote back, with a meaningful glance at Victoria's page, where she had dedicated the session to a lovingly detailed depiction of Chloe's chest. 

_I know right, aren't they great?_

Max didn't need to look at Victoria to picture the smug smile accompanying the note. 

'All right, that's it for today everyone.' The Professor announced, already on the way out of the room. 'Thank you Chloe.'

If she had looked back, she would have seen Chloe enthusiastically flipping her off while stuff completely naked, so perhaps it was a good thing that she didn't. 

Max quickly folded her art supplies away, consciously angling her body to avoid having to look too long at Victoria's drawing. Or its subject, until she had pulled on her robe. 

'So,' Victoria said, conversationally, 'if you're completely over your crush I suppose you won't be going out tonight?'

'If we go out tonight, it will be nothing to do with whether or not I used to have a crush on anyone.'

'Who has a crush?' Chloe asked, having snuck up behind the two of them so stealthily that Max almost jumped out of her skin. 

'No one!' Max said quickly, then, realising that this made little sense considering what Chloe must have overheard, amended, 'Victoria does. On a guy in her creative writing class.'

'Really?' Chloe seemed amused, 'I thought you were done with boys Vic?'

'Well,' Victoria said, staring daggers at Max whilst she silently sent a plea for her to play along. 'I spent a long time trying to deny it, but when you really like someone there's nothing you can do to avoid it. Eventually, you'll end up confessing how you feel. It's only a matter of time.'

Max focused very hard on keeping the blush in her cheeks under control. 

'What's his name?' Chloe asked, only sounding half interested. 

'I have no idea,' Victoria said, breezily, 'there's just something about the way he splits his infinitives though. It gives me shivers.' 

'And here I was thinking you might be harbouring a crush on me, what with all that special attention you paying me back there,' Chloe said, her grin spreading wide enough to show her canine teeth. 

'In your dreams,' Victoria replied, 'I hope your ego can fit through the door on your way out. See you Max,' with a manicured wave she was gone, her other hand already flicking through her phone, looking for the next social event of the season. 

'Well that was weird,' said Chloe, after a pause. 

'Umm, yeah,' Max said, silently grateful for Victoria for lying for her. She'd have to pay her back somehow, ideally in some way that doesn't require champagne or giving a one night stand a ride back to Seattle. 

'So, did you have anything in mind for tonight?' Chloe asked, all energy once again. She took Max's hand and bounced on the balls of her bare feet. 'Clubbing? Crime? Deeds that will go down in history?'

'That's not really my scene.' Max laughed.

'Come on,' Chloe whined, 'we're young, we're free, we have wheels and the city is ours!'

'Umm, I don't know about you, but my only source of wheels that aren't on a bus or a street car just walked out of that door.'

'Well, young Max, you're in for a surprise.' Chloe ran a hand through her hair, still bouncing excitedly, 'let me just grab my clothes and the night can begin.'

 

…

 

'Chloe, did you steal a truck?' was the first thing Max asked, because that seemed the most likely explanation. Not that the truck seemed worth stealing. The paint was an off white that glowed orange in the light's of the college parking lot, but one door seemed to be made entirely of rust, and the entire bonnet was pock marked with dents and scratches. One of the windows was rolled half down, despite the chilly weather, and Max would be willing to put money on the fact that it wouldn't close all the way. All in all, it looked one minor fender bender away from a junk yard. 

'I am offended at the very idea, Max.' Chloe said, wrapping one arm around her from behind, 'I am the proud owner of this fine automobile.'

'Why is it here?'

'Well Max, until recently my little lady has been sitting on the curb in front of building, stuck for lack of gas money, but I have a potential new job and I decided to fill her with fuel, so that she in turn can fuel our wild adventures. Now get in, its freezing out here and one of her heating vents still works.' 

Max laughed, then went round to the passenger door, swinging herself up onto a seat that was about sixty percent duct tape and forty percent foam. 'Congrats on the job, that's awesome.'

'I can finally stop mooching dinner off you.' Chloe said, after slamming the driver's side door shut and flicking on the heater that started up with a worrying rattle.

'That's not what I meant. Though you can totally start paying now you're the career gal. What are you going to be doing?'

'It's an apprenticeship in a tattoo parlour,' Chloe said, drumming her hands on the steering wheel as she waited for it to warm up a little. 'I can finally help people make terrible life choices.'

'Well, that's the dream,' Max said.

'I don't know,' Chloe seemed a little nervous, but smiled tightly at Max. 'The guy who runs the place liked my tat, and I told him I designed it myself so he asked me to come in Saturday to see him.'

Max couldn't help but bounce a little in her seat, 'that's so great Chloe, really. I'm so happy for you.'

'Well, its just an interview really, so I don't want to jinx it, but it could be great. A new start.' she smiled at Max, then began fiddling with the radio determinedly. 'The CD player in this thing is completely fucked, but if you get it just right the radio can pick up the college station. Then, we can decide where the night will take us.'

Max reached up and fiddled aimlessly with the skull shaped air freshener hanging from the mirror. 'So, where did the truck come from?'

'Back home,' Chloe said, a little distractedly, one ear still tuned to the static pouring from the speakers, 'it's what I made the trip south in. Pretty much the only thing from back there I can stand the sight of.' She gave the dash a thump and music filled the cab, then turned to Max, 'except for you of course.' 

'Chloe, no offence, but this truck is garbage.'

Chloe put her hands on either side of the steering wheel as if shielding its ears. 'Don't listen baby, she doesn't know what she's saying.'

Max laughed again, 'even you have to admit custom license plates are kind of douchey, even if it is full of city pride.'

'What do you mean?'

'Your plates say Twin Peaks, right? Like the hills in the middle of city?'

'Uh no, like the bat shit insane and hella awesome TV show.' Chloe shot her a look, 'is there seriously somewhere in town called Twin Peaks?'

'Yeah, they're in this little bit of park land just off Market Street.'

'Max…' Chloe said, in a pleading voice.

'What?'

'Can we go to the park?'

 

…

 

The radio was playing a song so full of feedback that for a second Max thought they had lost reception again, but after a minute she could pick up a voice in the middle of it all. Chloe was bouncing her head along to the rhythm and Max loved how happy she looked. After everything that had happened, Chloe deserved some good news, deserved her new start. Trying not to attract attention, Max reached into her satchel and pulled out her polaroid, she had been looking for a chance to get Chloe back for her candid shot. 

The flash and mechanical whirr of the camera clearly caught Chloe by surprise, 'Jesus Max, give a girl some warning.'

'I thought you liked modelling for me.'

'I do when I know I'm doing it at least.'

Max slipped the photo into a pocket of her bag so it could develop properly. 'I just thought you looked cute is all.'

Chloe shot her a smile before turning back to the road, 'you know if you're looking for cute models, you should stick to selfies.'

'Shut up.'

'Never.'

The song ended, and switched over to something a little chiller, and Max leaned back to look out her window. It was getting later, but the streets were still busy, people hurrying down the street with coat collars turned up against the wind. Store fronts spilled light out onto the pavement, all night ice cream parlours jostling for space with bars and clubs, and Max let it all wash across her face. There was something in the air that made her heart beat a little faster than it had any right to. Tonight was a night for adventures. 

She looked back at Chloe, who was trying to read street signs as she passed them. 'Is this the right way?' she asked, flicking on her turn signal.

'Yeah, down here.' They pulled down the smaller street, and another, leaving the centre of city behind, then turned onto the road that looped a figure eight around the base of the two hills. 

'So, which do we go for?' Chloe asked, as they drove in a slow curve.

'Maybe we should take one each and then signal each other from the top.'

'Nice idea, but there is no way I'm letting your ass out alone at night.'

'North then, turn here.' They started to climb the slope of the hill, trees lining the sides of the road and blocking out the lights of the city. 

'Spooky.' Chloe said.

'Don't act like we didn't grow up in the middle of nowhere. You've seen trees before.'

'Still, it's weird when they appear all of a sudden. Why aren't there houses and stuff up here?'

'It's a nature reserve, I think.'

They drove in comfortable silence, the radio playing something acoustic and strange that made the hair on Max's arms stand on end. Or maybe that was the sight of the moon hanging huge in the sky that they saw as they broke the tree line. 

Chloe pulled the truck into the little parking lot at the bottom of the peak, it was otherwise deserted, and Max felt a little thrill of excitement. Sure, in the day time this would be dumb and touristy, but in the moon light anything can feel a little rebellious. 

Chloe swung her door open, then turned back to Max. 'Wait here a sec.'

Max was a little confused, but sat back obligingly. She watched Chloe slide out of the cab and dash round the back of the truck, then suddenly her door was being opened from the outside. Chloe was outside, offering a hand to help Max down. 'My Lady.'

'Max laughed, and took the hand, hopping lightly down to the ground. 'You know, the internet has kind of ruined that phrase for me forever.' 

Max's hand was still in Chloe's, and Chloe didn't seem to have any intention of letting go any time soon. Instead, she started walking towards the top of the hill, crossing the gravel lot in a few long strides that Max struggled to keep up with. 

'You ready?' Chloe asked.

'Ready as I'll ever be.' And they started on the hill proper. Someone had cut steps into the side of the hill, so it wasn't a hard climb, but they still walked slowly. Hand in hand, the cold breeze full of the smell of the bay, Max felt the same strange mix of calm and excited she had felt in the car ride over. She kept sneaking glances at the girl walking next to her, and she got the feeling that Chloe was doing the same. 

'I love being out at night like this, under the moon and stuff.' Chloe said, after a few moments walking in silence. 

'Yeah?'

'It makes me feel a part of something a lot bigger, you know? Like a reminder that I'm real, but at the same time that all my problems are tiny compared to everything else.'

'Doesn't it make you feel tiny as well?'

Chloe shot her a look that would have been severe if she wasn't smiling, 'hey, don't ruin my moment.'

'Our moment.'

'True. You are definitely a big part of what makes it a moment worth preserving.'

They'd reached the top, and looking out they could see the other hill a little ways away, and all around them the lights of the city spread in a neat grid to the horizon. 

'They look like spider webs,' Chloe said, staring down the slope.

'Or like a map, you know? At this distance, you can't see any of the things that make it a real city. It looks like it might be the city they planned.'

'So, why this peak?' Chloe asked, turning back to Max. 'Why did you pick this twin?'

'Umm, its name, I guess. The north peak is called Eureka.'

'Like the scientist guy?'

'It's greek,' Max said, 'it means I have found it, I think, but you're supposed to say it when you have a sudden realisation.'

'And what sudden realisation were you hoping for?'

'Nothing in particular.'

Chloe smiled, then pulled off her jacket despite the cold air. 

'What are you doing?' Max asked.

Chloe lay the jacket down on the ground, then lay down, her head cushioned by the fabric. She patted the ground next to her, and Max lay down too. As she looked up, she saw the mess of stars spilled across the sky and for a second she was breathless. Apart from a few clouds drifting across the moon, the night was perfect. 

'I missed the stars, the first night I got here.' Chloe said, after they had stared a while. 'Light pollution, you know? Do you remember the sky back home?'

'I was the same the first night I got to Seattle.' Max said quietly. 'I tried to find the North star, like we used to when we were playing pirates. I thought that if I could work out which direction you were in, I'd be able to find you. I couldn't see anything though. Too many city lights.' 

Chloe pointed a finger up at the sky. 'That one's the penguin.' she said, outlining a cluster of stars. 

Max laughed, 'I'm pretty sure that's not real astronomy.'

'Shush,' Chloe said, squeezing Max's fingers with the hand she wasn't using to point. 'None of it's real. Some guys said the stars looked like dead people. I think they look like a penguin.'

'Okay,' Max said, smiling, 'so what's that one?'

'That's Rodney, the Chinchilla.'

'And that one?'

'That's Keith the drop out.'

'Is that your sign?'

'Yep, I'm a proud Keith. We're great artists, great friends and great kissers.'

'That's quite a resume.'

'What's that one?' Chloe asked, pointing at a clump of stars above Max's head.

She contemplated for a moment. 'They're the best friends.' She said, eventually, 'they were separated on earth, but then they got put in the stars so they could be together forever.'

'That's a little gloomy, isn't it?' 

'What do you mean?'

'I'd rather be with someone on earth than have some perfect eternity in space. It's cold out there.'

'Maybe you're right.'

They lapsed into silence. In the back of Max's brain she knew she should be cold, lying here on the ground, but it was hard to feel anything but warm with Chloe's hand in hers, with Chloe's body pressed against her. She matched her breathing to the other girls, till they were both taking slow, steady breaths together. In and out. In and out. 

'What are you thinking?' Chloe asked, after a while. 

'Honestly?'

'Yeah.'

'I'm thinking about how incredibly lucky I am that we found each other again. That I found you.'

'It wasn't luck, it was fate.'

'How do you figure?'

'The whole time I was in Arcadia Bay, me and… me and Rachel had this plan. We were going to LA. We were going to start our lives for real. So when all the dust had settled, I decided to do it. To go. I headed south, but it was like there was something keeping me back. Like a tether tying me to home. The further south I went, the tighter it felt, like I was being stretched out. When I hit the city limits here I was stretched as far as I could go. So I stopped.' She paused, and reached for her pocket, pulling out the little cigarette case again. 

She pulled out a joint and lit it, taking a deep breath before continuing. 'A few months later, you show up.' Another drag. 'Fate.'

'I can't imagine living in LA,' Max replied, carefully choosing which part of Chloe's speech to focus on. 

'Well you're not Rachel.' Chloe said, the end of her joint making glowing circles in the night air as she spoke. Max's body tensed at the words, and Chloe must have noticed because she half turned towards her. 'That's a good thing Max.'

'Is it?'

'Rachel was great. You're great. You're different people.'

'I guess.'

'You're the perfect Max.'

'And you're the perfect Chloe.'

They lay like that, facing each other, stretched out between the stars for what seemed like eternity. Chloe's joint burnt out, and she made no move to light another one. They just stared at each other. Max could hardly breathe. 

'Things are different now, aren't they?' Chloe asked, after an eternity of a pause. 

'They couldn't not be. We're not kids any more.'

'We changed so much without each other.'

'The things that matter didn't change,' Max said. 

After a pause she added, 'different can be good, anyway.'

'Different can be very good.'

Another silence. The best kind. The kind of silence that you find on soft Sunday mornings and in swimming pools at night and in deep in pine woods. 

'Max,' Chloe said, and she managed to fit so much in one syllable. Max loved the way she said her name. Loved all the past and all the future she could fit into it. Chloe was right. She wasn't Rachel, she wasn't anyone else, she wasn't a stand in or a fill in or a replacement. They were Max and Chloe, and that was the only thing that mattered. 

'Max,' Chloe said again. 'I'm sorry…' and suddenly Max couldn't bear to hear another apology. 

Their mouths met in a confusion of sensation and warmth, and Max couldn't say for certain who had leaned in to whom, but it didn't matter now. The only thing that mattered was Chloe's mouth against hers, the way their faces fit like they'd been built for this moment, if everything that had come before was just a drum roll for the main event. 

Chloe was pushing against her now, and Max pushed back, searching for more contact, for more of her, for more of this. Chloe opened her mouth and there it was, they fell deeper into each other, a mess of mouths and skin and hands trying to claim territory in a giddy rush. Chloe bit at Max's lower lip, softly, and Max couldn't help but let out a gasp. Chloe pulled away for a moment, searching Max's face for some sign she had crossed a line, and it was all Max could do to say, 'no, good, good noise,' before they were kissing again. 

And again. 

And again. 

When the sky above the city began to be touched with pink, Max realised she might not be making it to class this morning. She didn't care. 

 

…

 

Epilogue 

 

**Narcissist**  
so, does your absence today mean that things went very badly, or very well?

 

**Boring**  
!!!!!!!

 

**Victoria Chase changed Max Caulfield's nickname from Boring to No Longer Boring**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And... we're done. I might write this AU again, and soon, but as for this fic... finished. Thanks so much to all you guys for reading this mess, and special thanks to all those whose comments kept me going. Y'all got the happy ending you deserved. 
> 
>  
> 
> Okay: I have never been to San Francisco. Or California. Or the United States of America. So I will have got things wrong here. I deliberately avoided mentioning what city they were meant to be in until now, but it was always San Francisco. I don't know if anything I've said is right, if there even is an art college there, but oh well. I guess that's why its called fan fiction, and not fan fact. 
> 
> After that weird little defensive rant, thanks for reading guys! As always, commenters receive a part share in my first born child and I take requests over on wrappedupinabook.tumblr.com
> 
> see you all next time!


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